By Carley Crain
@carley_crain12
Braids pinned back with ribbons, buns slicked up high, and a glittery ‘S’ on their chest. Add an electric Blake Arena, families being able to attend in person, and returning alumni visiting for a perfect day for the Pride’s annual senior meet.
Springfield has six seniors on the roster this year; Alana Calabrese, Kayla Deecher, Leah Jewett, Kaitlyn Lindsay, Mackenzie MacLeod and Sophie Parquet. Sunday’s meet at Blake Arena vs. Southern Connecticut and Rhode Island College (RIC) was the competition they have been eyeing their entire careers- their final regular-season home meet for Springfield. It was one of the last times they would ever rep ‘The Jersey.’
“We always love honoring our seniors at this meet, especially with a class like this one that has been such an essential part of our team the past four years,” said junior Devon Rosier. “The underclassmen and coaches spent a lot of time the past couple of weeks finding the best ways to celebrate our seniors. We are excited to continue celebrating them the next couple of weeks when we host regionals.”
For the Pride, Sunday’s meet was all about the seniors– and the class of six showed up big time.
To begin the meet, Springfield started out with the vault and set a new season-best team score of 47.425. Sophomore Anne Kiley was the top scorer for the Pride, as she finished with a 9.625, which is a new personal best for her. Schutz also added a new career-best to her resume, as she finished closely behind her teammate, scoring a 9.575.
Up next were the uneven bars, which were highlighted by graduate student Winter Osborne’s new career-best of 9.55. In her first college meet, first year and Japan native Ayako Maeda contributed a 9.175 total score for the event.
The balance beam was the Pride’s third event of the day, which was one of their best rotations. Rosier once again had a spectacular performance, as she finished first overall with her new career best score of 9.750. Her teammate Tori Sipes scored right behind her, as she notched a second place finish with her score of 9.675.
The Pride’s most dynamic event of the afternoon was the floor exercise, which was their last rotation. Springfield tied RIC with a 48.600 team score for the event. All five athletes who competed on the floor scored either a new career best or tied their previous mark. Macleod led the way for the Pride, as she scored a new personal best of 9.825. In fact, all of Macleod’s career bests have come from this season.
Parquet also finished with a new personal best and placed fifth overall with her score of 9.775. Schutz was behind her teammate as she scored a 9.700, which was also a new college best score. Rosier finished next for the Pride as she scored a 9.675. LaViolette rounded out the scorers for the Pride as she posted a 9.625.
“We hit six for six on our floor exercises and on the vault as a team and kept the energy great the entire meet,” said Rosier.
The Pride came away with a second place finish and tallied a new season best team score of 186.800. Springfield will travel to Ithaca next Sunday for their last regular season meet of the year.
Photo: Gillian Dube/The Student