Gymnastics Excites in Friday Action at Kentucky

LEXINGTON, Ky. - - The Ball State gymnastics team took full advantage of a late addition to the schedule Friday night, wowing a packed crowd at Kentucky's Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center with numerous strong performances on the way to a team score of 194.750.

While the total fell short of topping host Kentucky's mark of 196.525 on Excite Night, it currently ranks as the top score in the MAC this season and is 20th nationally.

The Cardinals also used the event to improve in three of the four events from last Friday's meet at No. 16 Missouri, including a huge leap from 48.075 to 48.950 on vault.

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
Rotation 1 – Bars
- Junior Megan Teter led the way for the Cardinals on bars, turning in a mark of 9.775.
- Three Cardinals followed with a 9.725: sophomore Kelly Sulek, sophomore Hannah Ruthberg and junior Grace Evans … All three marks were season-best performances for the gymnasts.
- Ball State finished with a 48.625 in the event, topping its mark of 48.450 from the season-opener.

Rotation 2 – Vault
- Ball State crushed the vault, with all six competitors scoring at least a 9.725 for a team score of 48.950 … It was the closest event between the Cardinals and Wildcats, with Kentucky scoring a 49.225
- Sophomore Suki Pfister led the Cardinals by landing a career-best mark of 9.850 … It was also the third-best vault of the entire meet … Pfister's previous career-best was 9.825 set last season versus Illinois State (Jan. 31).
- Sophomore Victoria Henry was not far behind with a season-best vault of 9.825, while senior Stefanie Schweikert followed with a 9.775.

Rotation 3 – Floor
- Junior Megan Teter also led the way for the Cardinals on floor, with a season-best score of 9.825 to finish fourth overall.
- Sophomore Victoria Henry looked to have the same score, but it was later determined her routine took a fraction of a second too long, and she received a .100 deduction to finish with a 9.725.
- Thanks to four scores of at least 9.700, the Cardinals also improved on their floor score from opening weekend, moving from 48.650 to 48.675.

Rotation 4 – Beam
- For the second consecutive meet, senior Lauren Volpe led the way on beam for the Cardinals, landing a routine of 9.775.
- Senior Sandra Elsadek also turned in a strong performance, collecting a score of 9.750 to go along with marks of 9.750 on vault and 9.700 on floor.

All-Around
- Sophomore Hannah Ruthberg was the only all-around athlete for the Cardinals, finishing with a score of 38.275 … Her best event of the meet was a 9.750 on vault, followed by a 9.725 on bars.

FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA SALEEM:
"We were excited to see our team get out there and perform more consistently; like they have performed in the practice gym all fall semester. This meet was a good practice for us, as we wanted to use tonight to get in and do some consistent gymnastics and prepare for our league opener at Western Michigan Sunday."

"The environment was awesome, the fans were great, and it was really cool to be in front of a big crowd like that and do competitive gymnastics. There were a couple things we learned tonight which will make us better as a team moving forward."

"Coming in and competing like this with just a day's heads up speaks volumes about the resiliency and eagerness of this group. They are bought in and connected as a unified group of women. When things come at us, we are capable, prepared, and can do what we need to do when we need to do it."

UP NEXT:
It will be a quick turnaround for the Cardinals who open league competition at Western Michigan Sunday at 1 p.m.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Sandra Elsadek

Grace Evans

Victoria Henry

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Stefanie Schweikert

Kelly Sulek

Megan Teter

Lauren Volpe