Sports

BYU, Matsunami shine in front of big crowd at UAA gymnastics meet

Brigham Young won all four individual events Saturday to beat the UAA gymnastics team in front of a lively crowd at the Alaska Airlines Center.

Nearly 1,000 spectators packed the auxiliary gym for UAA's first home meet of the season.

The sellout crowd cheered as UAA's M'rcy Matsunami registed the fifth-best all-around score in school history. She rode a career-high score in the balance beam to victory in the all-around with 38.975 points.

Matsunami's performance included second place in the uneven parallel bars (9.8) and fourth place in beam (9.825, a personal-best that put her .025 behind a three-way tie for first place).

UAA enjoyed a 3-4 finish in floor exercise, where UAA's Simone Penker posted 9.8 to finish third, .05 behind a two-way tie for first place. Teammate Kallie Randolph placed fourth with a 9.775.

Brigham Young won the meet with a score of 195.575. UAA trailed with 191.100.

Three of the four individual events featured first-place ties. BYU's Brittni Wilde was the only outright winner, taking the uneven parallel bars victory with a 9.875.

BYU's Mikaela Jones, Emily Vidmar and Makenzie Halliday shared the balance beam win with scores of 9.850. Halliday and Mackenzie Douglas tied for first place in floor with scores of 9.850, and Halliday, Douglas and Jones shared the vault title with scores of 9.825.

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