Cornell’s esteemed men’s basketball team ended the 2009-10 year ranked 17th in the nation. Other celebrated teams, including the men’s ECAC championship hockey team and the second ranked wrestling team, ended their seasons in the media limelight. Still, among Cornell teams, the celebration of some sports has fallen by the wayside. But over the weekend, the less heralded gymnastics team made a statement that could not be ignored, proving its excellence once again at USAG nationals in Texas. The perennial national power finished third, falling only to the eventual champion, Bridgeport, and runner-up Texas Women’s University. 

The Red earned numerous individual honors, tracing all the way up to assistant coach Melanie Dilliplane, named USAG assistant coach of the year. Cornell also finished with five All-Americans –– juniors Emily Santoro, Maddie Pearsall, Gabriella Sanguineti, senior Emily Lenk and sophomore Melanie Standridge. In Saturday’s All-American showcase, Santoro also captured a share of the USAG Vault championship, tying for first place. Santoro’s victory was the first for any Cornell gymnast in the event. Sanguineti and Pearsall also shared third place in the bars event for Cornell. 

Although the Red was ultimately successful, the road to the finals proved arduous. The team narrowly edged out Temple on day one of Nationals for the second spot in the second session of the four-team finals. Led by Santoro in the vault, the team rallied for a hard-earned, come-from-behind victory   

“Emily Santoro hit a huge handspring double twist for a 9.700 –– our highest vault score of the day … and we made team finals,” said assistant coach Melanie Dilliplane. 

The next day, with the slate wiped clean, the Red opened the first rotation on the floor, finishing with a 48.075, lead by Pearsall’s 9.750 and Santoro’s 9.775. Cornell then moved to vault, turning in an even stronger performance to finish with 48.300, moving the Red’s score up to 96.850. Freshman McKenna Archer matched her personal best score of the year to lead the way with a 9.750. 

Next up was bars. Pearsall came up big for Cornell once again, finishing with the high score of the day, 9.800, to lead the Red to a final team score of 47.500. The Red finished on the beam led by junior Danielle Scott, who finished with a solid 9.650, and Standridge, who joined Pearsall to finish with a team-high 9.800. The beam final score of 48.175 gave the Red a team final of 192.525, good for a third-place finish in the nation. 

“All in all I thought this meet was a great way to finish the season. Sure, we had a few mistakes but we all pulled it together and for us to finish on beam with zero falls was huge,” said Scott. 

Pearsall agreed with Scott’s assessment of the Red’s performance. While Cornell finished the 2009 USAG nationals in a first place tie, this year’s third place was still a sweet success. 

“We put it all out there and have no regrets. It was especially nice for our seniors who all nailed their events in their final meet … overall it was a successful weekend, a great way to end the season,” said Pearsall.