Gymnastics’ red squad edged out the black squad Saturday as the team continues building confidence heading into the season.

The Huskies held their annual Black/Red Intra Squad meet at the Convocation Center as the red squad outscored the black squad, 179.100-171.800. The gymnasts were split up into black and red teams to give them a sense of competition before the start of the season. While it was only a preseason scrimmage, head coach Sam Morreale said he was pleased with his squad’s performance.

“I saw a ton of good things tonight,” Morreale said. “I like the way the kids held together the whole time. Nobody got frazzled or anything like that. We’ve got some work to do; it’s still early in the season. We’ll break the film down and make adjustments for the start of the season.”

The Huskies fared well during the bars segment of the meet. Sophomore Courtney Dowdell, of the black team, led all gymnasts, scoring 9.7. Junior Lauren Africano was the leading gymnast on the red team, posting a 9.65.

On the floor routine, the black team snuck past the red squad, winning 48.05-48.0. Senior Kelly Nortz, of the black team, took first place, while senior Amanda Stepp led all scorers on the red team with a 9.8.

Even though it was only a friendly competition, the meet provided the Huskies with an outlook for the rest of the year. Nortz said this scrimmage will help the team build confidence for the regular season.

“I think it went really well. I really didn’t watch the other team or the scores that much. We’re not really worried about that right now,” Nortz said. “Everybody went out there and did what they have done in practice and came away with a confident smile on their face.”

Freshman Katherine Prentice said the team performed well but there is always room for improvement.

“The team came together and got some jitters out,” Prentice said. “We can only go up from here, and I think we’re going to improve as the season goes on. The other freshmen did really well, too. It’s only going to get better as the season goes on.”

Morreale said he liked what he saw, especially from the freshmen in their first competition.

“The point of this is to get out in front of people and let the judges see us,” Morreale said. “The beauty of [Saturday] is a lot of kids got to compete. In a normal meet we won’t see all these kids. I thought the freshmen handled it very well; they weren’t perfect by any means, but, again, it’s a different team and different equipment. With all that, I feel they stepped up well tonight.”