Clemson Gymnastics kicked off their inaugural season last Friday at LittleJohn Coliseum against William and Mary in front of a crowd of over 8,000 people. The Tigers didn’t disappoint any of those fans, taking down the Tribe by a score of 196.325 to 190.050.
Redshirt Senior Rebecca Wells vaulted the team into competition with a score of 9.725, earning the first-ever points for Clemson Gymnastics. While the crowd erupted each time the Tigers flew down the runway, the meet started slightly shaky for the Tigers. However, they still jumped out to over a one-point lead.
“We came out of the gates, we were tight on vault. […]You could see the nerves. And then all of a sudden on bars, in warmups, you could start seeing the stick, stick, stick. I’m like okay, we can start doing this in competition. And we did.” said Head Coach Amy Smith.
The energy truly shifted as the Tigers moved over to uneven bars, where the Tigers’ confidence skyrocketed as they started to stick their landings. Lilly Lippeatt won the uneven bars with a score of 9.900, the first-ever score of 9.900 in Clemson history, which helped boost the Tigers into an early lead of 98.100 to 95.400 after two rotations.
The Tigers continued their dominance on beam, again outscoring the Tribe by over a point.
The team’s spectacular night was wrapped up in show-stopping fashion on floor routines. Earning their best rotation score of 49.275 out of 50, the Tigers were nearly three points better than William and Mary.
The crowd went wild as each of the Tigers nailed their tumbling passes throughout their routines, and you could tell in the gymnasts’ faces that they were feeding off the crowd’s energy. This energy propelled them to win not only the first meet of the 2024 season but also in the inaugural meet of Clemson Gymnastics history.
The historic night saw the Tigers clean sweep all four events, with Lauren Rutherford securing the title of the First Vault Champion, Lilly Lippeatt as the First Bars Champion, Rebecca Wells as the First Beam Champion, and Brie Clark as the First Floor Champion.
With a final score of 196.325, Clemson would secure the 14th spot in the national rankings for meets through January 11th. This ranks them higher than notable teams like Michigan, Nebraska, Georgia. This team is optimistic about their future and has National Championship aspirations.
“Winning a National Championship as soon as possible [is the goal]. I feel like we just want to give it all we have this year and see how far it takes us. We know we can be taken far, but we don’t know how far that is yet, so the sky is kind of the limit right now.” said Wells.
The Tigers aim to carry this momentum into their next meet on Sunday, January 21st, at LittleJohn Coliseum. This upcoming meet marks their first ACC encounter, facing off against Pittsburgh, which will be another exciting competition.
