Results (PDF) | Highlights
 
ITHACA, N.Y. – The Ithaca College women's gymnastics team returned to Ben Light Gymnasium on Wednesday night to kick off the first leg of its only two-meet week of the season when it welcomed SUNY Cortland for the fourth annual Rumble & Tumble Meet – a dual format meet held in conjunction with both institution's varsity wrestling programs. It was the Red Dragons that were able to snap a two-meet winning streak for Ithaca in the Rumble & Tumble series on this night, outpacing the Bombers 188.150-to-185.550 on the evening. The defeat drops IC's record to 0-2 in head-to-head duals this season.
 
Ithaca was quite competitive with SUNY Cortland in three of the four rotations on Wednesday night; however, the team's bugaboo event on balance beam continued to give the Bombers trouble. The struggles on beam have been a recurring theme for IC throughout much of this season and again made up for much of what would be the final margin on the night, as IC recorded just a 44.575 in the event, which lagged behind the visitors by slightly over two full points in the final standings. Outside of the beam, it was a highly encouraging performance for the Bombers, who were again dynamite on vault (47.650) and continued to post steady marks on both the uneven bars (46.225) and floor exercise (47.100).
 
Standing out on the night were several strong performances for the Bombers across the four rotations. Beginning on vault, Ithaca swept the Top-2 positions on the leaderboard yet another time this season with senior Cassidy Marquette and first-year Cameryn Nichols both continuing their strong run of form of late. Marquette took an event title for a fourth consecutive meet with a 9.650 in the event, while Nichols was right behind in equaling her personal best set this past Sunday at Cornell with another 9.625 on Wednesday night. The strong performances in the event did not end there, as both junior Courtney Christoforo and first-year Nya Pauldon equaled or set new personal bests in the event. Nichols also equaled a personal-best on uneven bars with a 9.425, tying her mark from the home Brockport dual at the beginning of the month. Junior Katie Holcomb posted a pair of strong performances, taking second on uneven bars with a 9.525 to begin her evening, before capping the night with a first-place finish 9.700 on balance beam. Senior Paige Landes was the highlight of the floor exercise for the Bombers, setting a new personal high mark with a 9.525 to finish as runner-up in the event.
 
The night began quite promising for the Bombers, as the team set a new season high on vault for a fourth consecutive meet in earning a 47.650 as a team to narrowly out-distance the 47.600 the team put up this past Sunday at Cornell. Outside of Marquette and Nichols, both Christoforo and Pauldon put together dynamite vaults. The IC junior tied her personal best with a 9.500 that was good for sixth-place on the night. Pauldon topped her previous best by a full one-and-one-half tenths with a 9.450 that was good for eighth. Junior Marin Sheridan rounded out the scoring performances for IC with a season-best 9.425 to place ninth. Ithaca would take a 1.025 point lead out of the opening rotation.
 
Rotation two took IC to the bars where the team had a bit of a mixed bag overall. Although the Bombers took three of the Top-5 positions in the standings, three misses left IC's score slightly below the Red Dragons first rotation mark, allowing the visitors to pull ahead by a three-tenths of a point heading into the back half of the meet schedule.
 
Holcomb was the highlight for the Bombers, backing up her season high from this past Sunday with another fine 9.525 score to finish runner-up in the event. Nichols and fellow first-year Zoe Kyriakopoulos were also sharp, each scoring 9.425 to tie for fourth-place. Unfortunately, a couple wobbles on the dismount landing caused both sophomore Molly Greenspan and junior Kylee Black to have their scores slip into the 8's with Greenspan recording an 8.950 and Black an 8.900. Christoforo was unable to provide the jolt at the anchor spot, slightly overshooting on the "ray" aerial skill in her routine.
 
The balance beam is where the troubles really cropped up for the Bombers. Although Holcomb was able to salvage some positive momentum with an excellent 9.700 to pace the field in the sixth slot, Nichols was the only other Bombers to avoid a fall in scoring a 9.250 to place fifth. Landes, Marquette and Kyriakopoulos rounded out the scoring for IC with 8.775, 8.600 and 8.250, respectively.
 
Although the meet was largely out of reach heading into the final rotation, the Bombers rallied with a strong finish on the floor in posting a 47-plus mark for a third consecutive meet. Landes continued to emerge as a steady contributor for the Bombers in the event, marking a 9.525 to finish as the runner-up. Junior Alexis Griffin continued to find her form in posting a fourth-place 9.450, while Marquette was right behind in fifth with a 9.425. Senior Baylie Trammell marked a strong routine with a 9.375, while senior Emily Szembrot rounded out the group with a 9.325. Nichols nearly put the exclamation point on the rotation in the sixth slot, but needed to stabilize herself with a hand down on at the end of her final tumbling pass which costed her a few valuable tenths.
 
Nichols finished the meet in second-place for the best all-around score with a 37.525. She was narrowly bested by Cortland's Megan Hanley, who tallied a 37.575.
 
Ithaca will be back in action this coming Sunday, February 23, when it plays host to Brockport and Ursinus in the annual Harriet Marranca Memorial Invitational. Action is set to start at 2:00 p.m.