Led by victories from freshmen M'rcy Matsunami and Simone Penker and junior Emily Peterson, the UAA gymnastics team finished second Saturday in a tri-meet with Rutgers and Yale in Piscataway, N.J.

Matsunami, a freshman from Omaha, Neb., won the vault with a score of 9.85, and Peterson, a junior from Indianapolis, won the balance beam with a 9.8.

Penker, a freshman from Maria Saal, Austria, led a 1-2-3 finish for the Seawolves in the all-around, placing third in beam and sharing fourth place in uneven parallel bars with Peterson. Penker's all-around score of 38.45 topped second-place Matsunami's 38.175 and third-place Morgan Cook's 37.9.

Cook, a sophomore, enjoyed her best finish in vault, where she placed third, one spot ahead of teammate Maria-Sophie Boggasch.

Host Rutgers won the meet with 193.9 points, followed by UAA with 191.55 and Yale with 185.75.

UAA's team score marked a four-point improvement over its season-opening effort Thursday at Bridgeport and is the 15th best score in school history.

The Seawolves make their home debut with a Jan. 25-26 series against Seattle Pacific.