The No. 25 Golden Gopher women’s gymnastics team used a season-high team tally on the floor exercise, including a winning mark of 9.90 by Carmelina Carabajal, to capture a 195.800-193.800 victory over Utah State in Logan, Utah, on Saturday evening.
Carabajal, a sophomore and the reigning Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, added the title in the all-around, recording a career-high score of 39.175. She matched a season-best on the vault with a score of 9.85, along with scores of 9.675 on uneven bars and 9.75 on the balance beam. Carabajal's bars score was a personal best.
Junior Angela Walker was also a double champion, winning titles on the bars and beam. Walker’s score of 9.875 on the bars tied the season-high for the Gophers. Walker scored a 9.850 on the beam, tying teammate Ashley Mutchler for the event title. Mutchler's mark was a personal best.
Freshman Alexis Russell earned a 9.850 on vault to tie with Carabajal for first place. The vault title was Russell's second in two weeks as she also took first on vault against Washington on March 10. Russell's all around score of 39.125 was a personal best and good for second place.
Andy Cornelius also earned a career-best score, with a 9.875 on floor to tie for second place.
In addition to the Gophers' season-best floor score (49.200), Minnesota earned it's best beam score in 2007 with a 49.000 and tied its best vault mark of the season with a 48.900.
The Aggies led after the first two rotations, but the Gophers took control with their performance on the floor exercise. Meanwhile, Utah State struggled on the beam, losing the lead after scoring 47.250. The Gophers iced the victory with their season-best team score of 49.000 on the beam.
Minnesota returns home to host West Virginia on March 24 in the Gophers’ final regular-season home competition. The three seniors, Stephanie Funk, Kelly Ganchan, and Kim Womack, will be honored at the meet.