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Friday, February 8
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Cards Keeping It Simple While Breaking School Record
February 07, 2019 | Gymnastics
Vault a strength for Gym Cards
You run. You flip. You land.
Nobody who watches vault would call it "easy," but the Ball State gymnastics team has simplified the approach on the way to record results.
In last Sunday's home meet, the Gym Cards vaulted to the mark of a school-record 49.175, with all six vaulters scoring 9.775 or better. The Cardinals placed 1-6 in the event, helping the team to a victory and the team's best score of the season. For Ball State, the success in the event is both in the mindset and also the ability of the team to build off success early in a competition.
"The people in our vault lineup are just naturals on vault," sophomore Arden Hudson, who usually competes in vault, bars and beam, said. "They know what to do and don't get in their head. It clicks for them."
The Cardinals do six circuits once a week, which Hudson says helps them stick their landings. Head coach Joanna Saleem helps them believe they'll have success and Hudson says the team is well-prepared in practice.
"The drills we do in practice really help with form and block and all those angles," she said. "Joanna always tells us it's easy. To me, vault is the easiest event. You run, you flip and you land. That's all you have to do. And our team environment helps a lot. It's nice to have everyone cheering and you feel like you're on fire, even if you aren't. It felt really good."
Hudson said starting a dual meet on vault provides a comfort zone.
"In club, you start with Olympic order so starting on bars is kind of weird," she said. "When you start a dual meet on bars, you're usually halfway through the meet. But here it (competing vault first) gets us off to a quick bang and we start out well and it helps bring the energy up.
"We have a lot of faith in our vault team."
Ball State Gymnastics
Ball State at Bowling Green/Lindenwood
Friday, Feb. 8 - 6:30 p.m.
Anderson Arena - Bowling Green, Ohio (DIRECTIONS)
Live Results | Twitter
Nobody who watches vault would call it "easy," but the Ball State gymnastics team has simplified the approach on the way to record results.
In last Sunday's home meet, the Gym Cards vaulted to the mark of a school-record 49.175, with all six vaulters scoring 9.775 or better. The Cardinals placed 1-6 in the event, helping the team to a victory and the team's best score of the season. For Ball State, the success in the event is both in the mindset and also the ability of the team to build off success early in a competition.
"The people in our vault lineup are just naturals on vault," sophomore Arden Hudson, who usually competes in vault, bars and beam, said. "They know what to do and don't get in their head. It clicks for them."
The Cardinals do six circuits once a week, which Hudson says helps them stick their landings. Head coach Joanna Saleem helps them believe they'll have success and Hudson says the team is well-prepared in practice.
"The drills we do in practice really help with form and block and all those angles," she said. "Joanna always tells us it's easy. To me, vault is the easiest event. You run, you flip and you land. That's all you have to do. And our team environment helps a lot. It's nice to have everyone cheering and you feel like you're on fire, even if you aren't. It felt really good."
Hudson said starting a dual meet on vault provides a comfort zone.
"In club, you start with Olympic order so starting on bars is kind of weird," she said. "When you start a dual meet on bars, you're usually halfway through the meet. But here it (competing vault first) gets us off to a quick bang and we start out well and it helps bring the energy up.
"We have a lot of faith in our vault team."
Ball State Gymnastics
Ball State at Bowling Green/Lindenwood
Friday, Feb. 8 - 6:30 p.m.
Anderson Arena - Bowling Green, Ohio (DIRECTIONS)
Live Results | Twitter
Players Mentioned
AA
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