Facing conference foe BYU at home, the Southern Utah Flippin’ Birds picked up a big win on Friday night.

Tallying a 196.925 score, SUU battled back from a deficit in the final two routines to topple the Cougars’ score of 196.475.

The T-birds started the night on the vault before closing with a phenomenal floor routine to clinch the victory.

Vault

SUU

Southern Utah tallied a 48.900 in its first routine, led by identical 9.825 scores from Karley McClain and Kayla Pardue. Ellie Cacciola scored a 9.775, followed by a 9.750 via Rachel Smith and a 9.725 by Caitlin Kho.

BYU

The vault was the second rotation for the Cougars, as they recorded a 49.225 score. Kylie Eaquinto led the way with a 9.900, followed by a 9.875 score from Sydney Benson. Rebekah Bean Ripley and Allix Mason both tallied scores of 9.825, while Madison Raesly-Patton rounded out the sequence with a 9.800.

Bars

SUU

The Flippin’ Birds moved to the bars for their next rotation, posting a 49.250 score. Shylen Murakami tallied a 9.900 score for SUU, with Karley McClain right behind with a 9.875. Three other T-birds rounded out the bars by posting scores of 9.800.

BYU

The Cougars scored 48.975 in their first event of the evening, led by a 9.925 by Lindsey Hunter. Anna Bramblett added a 9.900 score for BYU, while Anyssa Alvarado tallied a 9.800 and both Jayda Lealaogata and Sydney Benson added scores of 9.675.

Beam

SUU

The home team moved to the beam for its third rotation, posting a 49.275. Both Hailey Vultaggio and Ellie Cacciola recorded 9.900 scores, while Aubri Schwartze followed with a 9.850. Karley McClain (9.825) and Rachel Smith (9.800) rounded out the scores for Southern Utah.

BYU

The beam was the final rotation for the visitors, as they posted a score of 49.275. Mina Margraf led the Cougars with a 9.925, followed by scores of 9.875 from Madison Raesly-Patton and 9.850 from Elease Rollins. Sophie Dudley (9.825) and Allix Mason (9.800) rounded out BYU’s scoreline.

Floor

SUU

The Flippin’ Birds put on a show in their final rotation, recording a score of 49.500. Karley McClain tallied a 9.950 in a near-perfect routine, followed by a 9.925 score via Aubri Schwartze. Hailey Vultaggio added a 9.900 score, alongside 9.875 from Ellie Cacciola and a 9.850 from Rachel Smith.

BYU

The floor was the third rotation for the Cougars, where they tallied a 49.000 score. Elease Rollins (9.875) and Heidi Schooley (9.825) recorded the top scores for BYU, followed by a 9.800 from Sophie Dudley. Rebekah Bean Ripley added a 9.775 and Eliza Millar scored a 9.725 to cap the rotation.

Flippin’ Birds continue to soar

With the win, SUU moves to 9-1 overall this season.

The T-birds took first place (of four) in their session to open the season at the Super 16 in Las Vegas, beating Washington, North Carolina, and Fisk University.

After a win over New Hampshire, SUU finished as the runner-up to the University of Utah at the Best of Utah meet while taking down BYU and Utah State.

The Flippin’ Birds have now faced three Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference opponents in a row, picking up wins over all three schools (Utah State, Boise State, BYU).

Up next

Both SUU and BYU will meet for a rematch in Provo on Friday, February 10. The meet will begin at 7 p.m. and can be seen on BYUtv.

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The founder of Stadium Sportzz and the Sportzz with Spencer podcast, Spencer hopes to one day achieve his dream of working in the world of sports media after completing his Bachelor's degree. Spencer first gained experience in the field of sports writing as a high school senior, where he became the first intern to have a published byline writing for The Spectrum & Daily News in St. George, Utah. Later in the fall of 2017, he was the sports editor for independent campus news source Thunderground and the public address announcer for the women's soccer team at Southern Utah University. Since then, Spencer has worked as a high school sports reporter in St. George, writing for both St. George News and Southern Utah Now. Spencer is also an avid freelancer and has had works appear in the Deseret News, Standard-Examiner, RSL Soapbox, and Fansided's Venom Strikes. Currently, he is a regular contributor to Fan-Insider.com and the UK-based Tottenham site, SpursWeb. When he isn't playing, watching, writing about, or discussing sports, Spencer enjoys working as a part-time athletics PA voice at Utah Tech University and spending time with his amazing wife.