Scoot, scoot
Paget, Bermuda 1/21/00 .......
We were off again scooting all over the streets of Bermuda prior to the evening meet. By now, the entire country of Bermuda has experienced the wrath of the MIT Gymnastics motor-scooter gang holding up traffic all over the island. Our team gives a whole new meaning to the term 'biker-chick'. We again rode our scooters to the meet, but tonight the team did not march in with the helmets as they did the night before. Unfortunately, the snow in the U.S. and the winds in Bermuda have kept NC State from being able to fly in on time for the meet, so 5 teams took the floor lead by a group of drummers and dancers in traditional Bermuda costumes which was a lot of fun to watch.
The meet was held at the Bermuda College gymnasium in front of about 500 spectators from the island that were very appreciative of college gymnastics. And tonight, they got to see some high powered gymnastics from the Nebraska squad. The cornhuskers came into the meet ranked 3rd in the NCAA and were head and shoulders above the other 4 teams on the floor. Their entire team came in with either Yurchenko vaults or amazing handspring fronts, multiple releases and big dismounts on bars, three element series galour on beam and just for good measure, a double layout, triple-full, double-pikes and two and a halfs on floor. It was a great experience for our team to watch these athletes perform, but even though they ran away with a meet compiling a 194.25, no team had more fun nor displayed more enthusiasm than our own. Our goal was to stay within 30 points of Nebraska, and we came in just under 25 points behind.
With NC State's absence, the rotations were adjusted and MIT started the meet on beam. With four events going on at the same time and plenty of cheering from the teams and the crowd, it was difficult to pay attention to anything else but our own routines. Starting on beam is never easy, and especially on the back end of a back-to-back meet scenario having competed the day before. Nevertheless, the team did great being led by strong performances from Lindsey Wolf '03 and Liz Ellingson '01 who shared top team honors with a 9.175 on the event. Three falls was better than five falls the day before and the team total of 42.225 reflected a two point improvement. The MIT team moved to floor next where all 7 competitors hit clean routines despite being visibly tired. The team compiled a 44.375 total on floor and moved to the vault.
Vault, on this day, was kind to MIT. Our vaulters did a nice job standing up their vaults and the judges were scoring about 1 or 2 tenths higher than what we would normally get back home. The team wasn't really complaining as they posted their highest vault total of the season to date with a 43.775 effort. And last but not least, the demise of the day before, the uneven bars. After riding scooters all over the island for two straight days, having competed in a late night meet the day before and putting bars last in tonight's meet, we weren't quite sure what to expect. What actually happened was a 6 for 6 performance on bars including a 9.525 effort from Sonja Ellefson '01 and a 38.925 team total which was 2.4 higher than the day before. The athletes made a strong case to compete on back-to-back days every weekend as they posted a 169.300 team total which was nearly 6 points higher than they day before. Most importantly, including exhibition routines, MIT hit 23 out of 26 routines.
The pace of the meet did not allow us to watch too much of what the other teams were doing. We did finish on a bye so we got to marvel at Nebraska's floor rotation. Even though their routines were phenomenal and all of their scores above a 9.55, their coaches seemed to be in serious disagreement with the judges. When your business is to win, sometimes you overlook how much fun competing in gymnastics really is. My general impression is that four of the teams on the floor were having a blast. Both Cornell and Alaska showed definite signs of being tired from the day before, and the team from Brown displayed some great routines. The team that won seemed very disappointed and not very happy to be there at all. Being in Bermuda was more than reason enough for our team to be happy. The final team totals were Nebraska 194.25, Brown 184.725, Cornell 181.375, Alaska 180.075 and MIT 169.30
Tomorrow we scoot again and Sunday we head back to the cold of a Northeast winter. See you at home.