Gymnastics | 1/8/2023 7:51:00 PM

DENVER, Colo. (Jan. 8, 2023) – While the temperature in Denver is significantly colder than in Denton, Texas, the Texas Woman's gymnastics team brought the heat to their season opener at the University of Denver.
 
TWU officially opened their 2023 season on the road at a tri-meet against Denver and Penn State. In the tri-meet setup, the Pioneers started on the balance beam and rotated to finish on the uneven bars.
 
A bright highlight of the night came from TWU's three freshmen who all debuted on events today.
 
Freshman Brooke Ferrari, a native of Longmont, Colo., competed in the anchor position for the Pioneers on the uneven parallel bars. In her debut, she led the Pioneers on bars with a 9.875, tying for second overall on bars with Denver's Alexandria Ruiz.
 
Also making her debut on bars, freshman Kami Zarlengo led off for TWU. Zarlengo, a native of Littleton, Colo., performed a smooth routine to score a 9.725 in her first collegiate meet. Both Zarlengo and Ferrari started off the season strong performing in their home state in front of their family and friends.
 
Ruby Goad, a freshman from Newnan, Ga., began her collegiate career on the balance beam. In the third spot, Goad stayed poised throughout her routine and performed a solid dismount to score a 9.7750 to lead the Pioneers.
 
While Goad topped the leaderboard for the Pioneers on the beam, Emily Six, Kyla Podges and Madeline Gose all scored 9.6's or higher to open the meet for TWU.
 
Six led off for TWU on beam, as the first competitor of the season in the first rotation and stuck with a 9.725. Coming off a strong year on beam, Podges scored a 9.675 in her season debut. In the fifth spot, Gose, who came off a second-place finish at MIC on the balance beam, tied with Podges, scoring a 9.67. TWU finished the beam with a total team score of 47.975.
 
After the beam, TWU transitioned to floor exercise, recording a total team score of 47.800.
 
Mara Johnson coming off a career-high 9.900 on floor at the 2022 USAG Championships started the season off on the right foot, as she led the Pioneers on floor with a 9.825. Following Mara's routine, Gose closed the floor competition for the Pioneers with a 9.7500. To round out the top scores on floor, Kyla Podges made her career debut on floor, scoring a 9.625 and Daisy Woodring recorded a 9.650.
 
Moving onto the vault, TWU scored their highest event score of the afternoon, a 48.325. Woodring led the Pioneers on the high-flying apparatus with a 9.750, and Johnson scored narrowly behind her with a 9.725.
 
The Pioneers closed their season opener on the uneven bars with a 47.875. Along with the high scores from the Ferrari and Zarlengo, Podges added a 9.625 to top the scores for TWU.
 
Although they endured some falls and missteps on floor and uneven bars, the Pioneers held steady to record a solid debut performance for the 2023 season. TWU finished the night with a 191.975. Denver won the meet with a 196.925, and Penn State came in second with a 195.875.
 
"Despite not being the strongest meet from start to finish for our team today, there were some incredible moments that we will look to build on in the weeks to come," TWU Head Coach Lisa Bowerman said.
 
TWU will go on the road for their second meet of the season next weekend. They will travel to Arizona for a quad meet featuring Illinois and Bowling Green on Saturday, Jan. 14. March-in will begin at 3 p.m. CST.