GYMNASTICS: Yale honors late head coach with invitational win
The Yale Gymnastics team competed in honor of their late head coach on Feb. 13 on the road to the Ivy Classic.
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Yale’s gymnastics team took the win at the Barbara and Don Tonry Invitational, an event named in honor of the program’s late head coach, Barbara Tonry.
On Sunday, Feb. 13, the Bulldogs won the Barbara and Don Tonry Invitational with a team score of 193.625 against Southern Connecticut (189.400), Bridgeport (187.450) and Springfield (182.625). The competition was named in honor of the team’s two former head coaches and founders of the gymnastics program at Yale, Barbara and Don Tonry.
“Barb was our head coach since the program’s inception in 1973 and she really is the epitome of Yale Gymnastics, the legacy, the pride, the community, and so much more,” gymnast Riley Meeks ’23 said.
The team particularly excelled in the uneven bars this past weekend, earning their second-highest bars total score in history, 49.050. This mark was just 0.25 away from the highest bars score in school history. All the uneven bars competitors impressively scored above a 9.600. Kendal Toy ’22 and Sherry Wang ’24 both tied for first in the event.
The Bulldogs dominated the individual all-around with Sarah Wilson ’24 taking first place (38.450) and Lindsay Chia ’22 walking away with third (38.025). In the rest of the events, Raegan Walker ’23 won her second vault title of the season and teamed up with Toy to score 9.825’s on the balance beam with virtually no wobbles. Chia, Wilson, Walker and Toy also performed above a 9.700 on the floor exercise.
On the day, the Yale gymnasts wore special uniform jackets with Barbara’s initials “BT” embroidered on them.
“As a team, we intend for that legacy to live on forever, and this meet was just one of many ways that we get to honor [Barbara],” Meeks said.
Cassie Clement ’23 shared her sentiment, describing that Barbara “taught us to put in the hard work and enjoy the results … [and that] it’s more than just gymnastics, it’s character.”
“Our performance this past weekend at the Tonry invitational was all about having fun, and making the Tonry’s proud and I think we’ve done just that not only at this past meet but this whole season,” Meeks said.
Ahead of the team’s competition against Temple University on Feb. 18 and all-important Ivy Classic on Feb. 27, interim head coach Andrew Leis said that the team is “extremely close on floor and vault to being 100 percent” and is only focused on improving its own performance.
The Temple Owls are ranked 42nd in the country.