BOWLING GREEN, Ohio -- Payton Murphy secured an all-around victory for the second-straight week while leading the Western Michigan gymnastics team to a dual meet victory at Bowling Green on Saturday afternoon. Murphy either posted the top score or tied for the top score in three of the four events on the day, while finishing as the runner-up in the remaining event.
The Broncos took the meet with a team score of 194.200, besting the host Falcons' mark of 190.375. WMU had the top three finishers in all-around competition, while placing four of the top five on vault, two of the top three on bars, the top two finishers on balance beam and two of the top four on floor exercise.
Murphy's afternoon started with the only event she did not finish with a top score, as her 9.775 on uneven bars was good for second behind Bowling Green's Alexandra Fochler, who posted a 9.800. Murphy followed with a career-best 9.800 on vault, the meet's top score. She followed with a 9.850 on floor, which tied BG's Taylor Jensen for top score, before finishing with a 9.800 on vault that tied teammate
Sarah Moravansky.
Moravansky finished second to Murphy in all-around scoring. In addition to her career-high 9.800 on beam, Moravansky tied for second in vault (9.775), tied for fourth on bars (9.700) and tied for fifth on floor (9.775).
WMU started on bars, with Murphy (9.775) and Harrison (9.750) posting scores good for second and third, respectively. As the teams switched to vault, Murphy's 9.800 paced an outstanding showing from the Broncos, who saw
Josephine Thomas, Moravansky and
Carissa Ludwig join BG's Elena Lawson in a tie for second at 9.775.
Moving to floor, Murphy again paced a strong Bronco showing. Her 9.850 tied for the top score in the event while
Dani Petrousek matched a career-best score and tied Lawson for third at 9.800. Moravansky and
Ronni Binstock were just behind at 9.775 in a tie for fifth.
Moravansky and Murphy proved the final highlight of the day for WMU, each posting a 9.800 on vault to tie each other for the top score ahead of Jensen, who posted the top Falcon mark of 9.750 to place third.
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*- Set or matched collegiate-best score
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The Broncos compete in a pair of dual meets in the coming week. WMU travels to Kent State on Thursday, Feb. 18 (4 p.m.) before hosting Eastern Michigan at University Arena on Sunday, Feb. 21 (1 p.m.).
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