Shreveport - The Centenary gymnastics team posted a season-best team score of 193.000 on Friday evening as the Ladies placed second to the Texas Woman's University Pioneers in a Midwest Independent Conference dual meet on Senior Night at the Gold Dome.
The Ladies, competing in their final home meet and final meet of the regular season, recorded their best overall score in a meet since March 8, 2019 when they finished with an even 192.00 in the Rutgers Quad Meet. TWU won Friday's meet with a final score of 195.150.
The Ladies and Pioneers were facing each other for the fourth time this season and for the second weekend in a row. Centenary finished third last Sunday in a tri-meet versus the host Pioneers and Oklahoma in Denton, Texas. Centenary finished with an overall team score of 189.575. Centenary entered Friday's meet ranked 53rd in the country in the latest Road to Nationals rankings as the Ladies are the highest ranked division III team in the nation. TWU, a division II school, entered the meet ranked 48th.
Centenary posted season-best scores on bars (48.225) and beam (48.575) and its second-best score on vault (48.175) and scored a 47.325 on floor. Ladies' Junior All-American Kendall Sanders (Spring Branch, Texas) won the all-around competition with a new career-high score of 38.825. She set a pair of new career high marks on vault (9.800) and bars (9.675). TWU's Domi Bonzagni finished second in the all-around at 38.125. Sanders finished second on vault, seventh on floor, eighth on beam, and tied for eighth on bars.
The Ladies were superb on beam Friday night as junior Kendall Knaps (Prairieville, La.) placed third with a new career-high 9.775 and senior Jerrica Harris (Memphis, Tenn.) set a new career-high with a 9.725 to place sixth. Freshman Rylie Molina (Moss Bluff, La.) also set a new career high as she earned a 9.650 to tie for ninth place with her teammate, sophomore Kennedy Stephens (Bella Vista, Ark.) whose 9.650 was also a new career-high mark.
Harris recorded another career best on floor as she finished fourth with a 9.750. Sophomore Kendall Huff (Riviera, Texas) set a career best mark (9.550) to place eighth. Senior Sierra Ponder (Stone Mountain, Ga.) set a new career high on vault with a 9.575 to finish in a tie for ninth place. Freshman Isabel Plaza (San Antonio, Texas) set a career-high mark with a 9.525 to finish 12th. Ponder had the Ladies' top finish on bars as she set a new career high with a 9.750 to tie for sixth. Knaps tied her season-best score (9.765) to tie for eighth with teammates Sanders and junior Xian Baumgartner (Albuquerque, N.M.) who each tied their season-best marks.
The Ladies' three seniors, Harris, Jenny Jackson (Monticello, Fla.), and Ponder were honored on Friday.
The Ladies will next compete in the MIC Conference Championship hosted by Illinois State University on Friday, March 19 at 3 p.m. in Normal, Ill.
Centenary's complete 2021 schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/gymnastics/2020-21/schedule.
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