Complete Results (PDF)
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College gymnastics team took on one of its most challenging tasks yet when it concluded its home schedule on Sunday afternoon at the annually held Harriet Marranca Memorial Invitational. Facing a challenging field, which featured the Top-2 teams in NCAA Division III Gymnastics in Brockport and Ursinus, the Bombers more than held their own in finishing third with a final team score of 186.550.
 
Ben Light Gymnasium was bustling on Saturday afternoon in one of the most attended events of the winter season, as the squad honored the late Harriet Marranca, a 1999 Ithaca College Athletics Hall of Fame inductee and founder of the Ithaca College gymnastics program. Members of the team held a special pre-meet ceremony to honor the former coach, while the Ithaca College chapter of Unite for HER partnered with the program in an effort to raise funds and awareness for cancer research and prevention.
 
The Bombers put on show the program patriarch would certainly have been proud of, bringing the noise level from the crowd in attendance to a fever pitch often throughout the afternoon. Ithaca posted the top team score in floor exercise with a 47.200, while it finished with the second-best vault score with a 47.000.
 
Highlighting the action for IC was the performance of senior Lynley Choate who competed in her final home meet on Sunday. She posted the top score for IC on the balance beam with a 9.600 to finish in eighth overall for the event. It was her third consecutive competition routine that scored 9.525-or-better. The Arkansas native was joined on the mat by her parents in a post-meet ceremony celebrating her outstanding Ithaca career.
 
The Bombers began the day with a fantastic performance on vault, which jettisoned IC into the lead through the first rotation. Junior Kaylee Pacunas and sophomore Maggie Verrette led the way for Ithaca with scores of 9.450, both finishing in a tie for fourth-place overall in the event. Freshman Baylie Trammell added a 9.400 to finish in a three-way tie for seventh place, while sophomore Victoria Gery added a Top-10 finish in a tie for 10^th with a 9.375.
 
IC's lone hiccup of the afternoon came in the uneven bars. Although the Bombers were steady across the board in the event, they were unable to keep pace with Brockport and Ursinus who pulled ahead in the second rotation and held position through the duration of the meet. Junior Danielle Maffuid and Trammell put together excellent routines to each score 9.350 and finish in a tie for fourth in the event. Sophomore Haley Lyons marked a 12^th-place score of 9.025, while freshman Elyse Ryden and junior Mina Shernan each marked 9.000 scores to tie for 13^th.
 
Joining Choate with excellent routines on the balance beam were freshman Paige Landes and junior Hannah Donnelly. Landes, who competed in three events on the afternoon which was a first for IC this season, marked a ninth-place score of 9.575. Donnelly finished right behind her with a 9.550 to come in 10^th place.
 
The Bombers closed strong with a fantastic floor exercise run, marking the top overall score in the event at the meet. Freshman Emily Szembrot led the way with a performance that delighted both the crowd and the judges, scoring a 9.550 to finish in a tie for third. Sophomore Carolyn Nichols posted a fifth-place showing with a score of 9.500, while sophomore Amy Thomas went sixth with a final score of 9.475. Completing IC's group of Top-10 finishers was junior Elanor Almeida, who scored a 9.425 in her first counting score appearance in the event this season.
 
Ithaca returns to action next Saturday, March 4, when it heads back to SUNY Cortland for another dual meet against the Red Dragons. Action is scheduled to begin at 12:00 p.m.