Junior Alexis Mattern takes her turn on the uneven bars at St. John Arena on Feb. 4. Credit: Megan Russell | Lantern reporter
The Ohio State women’s gymnastics team brought home a big win in their co-ed meet against Rutgers after a two-meet losing streak. For their third win of the season, the Buckeyes posted a final score of 195.775-194.300 over the Scarlet Knights.
The Buckeyes claimed a shutout for the meet, placing first in every event. Junior Alexis Matter earned a career-best for yet another meet in a row of 39.400 to take first for the all-around.
“Today I had my teammates in front of me, I had my teammates behind me when I was going,” Mattern said. “So that really just gave me the strength and the positive energy to just go out and do the best that I could do.”
The OSU women started strong on vault, tallying a 49.025. Mattern posted a 9.825 to place first overall for the event.
In the second rotation on uneven bars, freshman Olivia Aepli and Mattern led the tea, both scoring 9.825 to tie for first overall. Sophomore Kaitlyn Hoflland missed the stick, falling on the dismount to tally the team low-score of 8.875 for the night.
At the half point of the meet, the Buckeyes still held the lead over the Scarlet Knights with an overall score of 97.800.
The team gained momentum in the third rotation on balance beam earning a 48.900 for the event. Junior Taylor Harrison posted a 9.878 to take first for the event.
In the fourth and final event, Mattern tied her career-high of 9.925 to earn first for floor. A last minute lineup change was made right before the start of the rotation where Harrison stepped in place of sophomore Janelle McClelland.
“At first I felt bad because Janelle got hurt, so I never want to see my teammates hurt,” said Harrison. “But my coach asked me ‘So how do you feel about it?’ and I said ‘Oh, I’m so excited. I’m ready.’”
Harrison posted a 9.750 on her first time on floor after being out all season for the event due to a preseason hip injury.
The meet result in victory for the OSU women, but coach Carey Fagan said that she didn’t take the win for granted.
“I was happy with how the team responded,” Fagan said. “We had a couple of bad landings on vault and that can sometimes shake a team and their confidence, and we needed to make a couple of lineup changes towards the end, but they seemed to really handle it. Sometimes you have a mistake and everybody kind of folds, but this team was pretty mentally tough, so I’m happy overall.”
The OSU women’s gymnastics team will travel to University Park next next Saturday, Feb 11 for a dual meet against Penn State.
