The gymnastics team scored a season-high 188.3 points, taking third place behind the University of Bridgeport, with 191.975 points, and host Rutgers University, with 191.225 points, last Friday.
The team's efforts were led by Kasey Haas '13, who placed third in the bars with a new personal record of 9.725. Haas' score was the highest on the team in a day marked by a series of personal bests.
Captain Chelsey Binkley '11 and Emily Lutfey '13 also set new personal records on the bars — Lutfey's 9.650 earned her eighth, and Binkley's 9.525 snagged her 12th. The team did well on the beam as Michelle Shnayder '14 took seventh place with 9.450, and Haas's score of 9.375 was good for eighth. Both were career marks, complementing Carli Wiesenfeld's '12 third-place, 9.675 effort.
Head Coach Sara Carver-Milne said she was very happy with the team's efforts and credited intense new routines as the reason for Bruno's season-high performance.
"We did some upgrading of routines, and it paid off. They really pulled it together," she said.
With only one more competition left before the Ivy Classic, the team continues to work on tightening up their routines, eyeing the 190 point mark required to qualify for nationals.
Haas, who tore her anterior cruciate ligament in her knee last year one month before coming to Brown, is competing in her first truly healthy season for the Bears.
Carver-Milne said she thought Haas' story was an inspiring one and praised her tenacity.
With a predominately young team, the squad has also seen great leadership from the captains and veterans. Binkley in particular was cited by her coach for her determination.
"A lot of seniors would just kind of coast in their last season," said Carver-Milne. "Not Chelsey."
The team expects to see improvement in the coming weeks as the athletes become more familiar with their difficult routines in search of even higher point totals.
The Bears also traveled to Arizona State for a head-to-head meet against the Gym Devils the previous Friday. The team again found itself on the short end of the stick, as they were edged out by only five points. Lutfey and Wiesenfeld took first and second in the all-around, and Katie Goddard '12 and Lutfey scored high marks in the vault, with the two tying for fourth. Wiesenfeld grabbed a second-place finish on the beam, and Lutfey paced Bruno's efforts in the floor, taking third place.
The Bears are back in action this Friday when they will travel to Durham to take on the University of New Hampshire, the University of Alaska and Michigan State.
