Less than a week after returning from Missouri, the gymnastics team traveled to Yale for the Ivy Classic Saturday, a quad meet including Penn and Cornell. Though the Bears finished in fourth with a 192.400, five gymnasts earned All-Ivy Classic honors on multiple events.
As the reigning Ivy Classic champions, Brown entered the competition as the team to beat. Jorden Mitchell ’17 posted a season-high 9.775 on the vault to claim third, and Caroline Morant ’17 notched a 9.825 to capture the title. Both received first team All-Ivy Classic accolades for the event, and the team finished the rotation with a season-high 48.350.
“Vault hasn’t been our strongest event this season, but we did really well,” Mitchell said. “That gave us a lot of confidence going into bars.”
That confidence was evident as Anya Olson ’18 upped her personal best to 9.825 and earned second, while Morant nabbed first with a season-high 9.850. The pair was recognized with first-team honors on bars. At the competition’s midpoint, the Bears led the field by two tenths of a point with a 96.800.
Prior to the championship, the Bears put extra emphasis on balance beam training as “it tends to be the most mentally challenging,” Mitchell said. More often than not, results are decided on the four-inch-apparatus.
“Competing in a championship meet is definitely a different experience than a regular season meet, especially on beam,” Mitchell said. “Beam can make or break a competition.”
Despite a few nervous missteps, three gymnasts nailed their beam routines and were named to All-Ivy teams. Anne Christman ’20 scored a 9.700 and earned second-team distinction, while Regan Butchness ’18 earned a 9.725 and her second-straight second-team recognition. Mitchell finished third on the event with a 9.775, adding first-team honors to her collection.
Going into the final event, Olson said the team had the mindset that they “were going to leave it all out on the floor.”
Olson recorded a 9.650 and earned second-team decoration. Morant ended the competition with a 9.775 and first-team recognition on floor.
“We’re going to take what happened and use it as a learning experience,” Olson said of the fourth-place finish. “We’ll take that fire and really bring that to (the ECAC championship) and to the rest of the meets this season.”
At the end of the championship, Morant earned first-team honors in the all-around and finished third with a 38.550. During their time at Brown, Morant and Mitchell have amassed quite the collection of Ivy Classic event titles and All-Ivy honors: Mitchell boasts three individual titles and eight All-Ivy laurels, while Morant totaled six championship titles and thirteen All-Ivy distinctions.
Next week, the Bears will compete at New Hampshire Sunday and the University of Bridgeport Tuesday.
