Gymnastics Host Bowling Green on Sunday for Alumni Day

MUNCIE, Ind. - - Make Worthen Arena the "unofficial" start to your Super Bowl Sunday celebration and join the Ball State gymnastics team when it hosts Bowling Green for Alumni Day at 1 p.m.

The Cardinals enter the meet with a 2-1 record at home, including a sweep of a Jan. 30 tri-meet versus Illinois State and Central Michigan.

HOW TO FOLLOW SUNDAY: ESPN3 Live Video | Live Results

"LIVE" FROM THE WLBC ZOOM ROOM:

In case you missed it, senior Sandra Elsadek, senior Sari Thaler, junior Taylor Waldo and freshman Erica Cooper were live in the WLBC Zoom Room with Steve Lindell on Thursday morning … Below is the complete interview:

IN THE RTN TEAM RANKINGS:

Ball State enters the weekend ranked 39th nationally with an average score of 194.889 over its first seven meets … Last time out, the Cardinals scored 194.350 in a tri-meet at No. 20 Utah State with No. 24 Southern Utah.
Bowling Green enters the weekend ranked 55th nationally with an average score of 192.792 … The Falcons turned in their second-best score of the season, a 194.025, last time out in a home meet versus Illinois State on Feb. 5.

IN THE RTN EVENT RANKINGS:

The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 32nd on vault (48.900 average), 33rd on beam (48.757), 39th on bars (48.525) and 43rd on floor (48.707).
Ball State's season-high vault score of 49.150 set in the Jan. 30 tri-meet ties as the 26th-best team vault score in the nation so far this season.
Ball State's program-record beam score of 49.150 set in the Jan. 30 tri-meet ties as the 32nd-best team beam score in the nation so far this season.

IN THE RECORD BOOKS:

Ball State's season-best team score of 195.850 set in the Jan. 30 tri-meet ties as the second-best in program history … The Cardinals also scored a 195.850 in a home dual versus North Carolina on March 8, 2020.
Ball State's team score of 195.675 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) is now the seventh-best score in program history.
Those two performances are not the only time BSU has flirted with a program record under ninth-year head coach Joanna Saleem … In fact, the top 13 team scores in program history have come under Saleem's guidance, including a program record 195.975 set at Eastern Michigan on Feb. 6, 2021.

HITTING THE TEAM EVENT MARK:

The Cardinals tallied a program record 49.150 beam score in the Jan. 30 tri-meet, counting routines of 9.900 from freshman Grace Sumner, 9.850 from senior Lauren Volpe, 9.825 from sophomore Hannah Ruthberg, 9.800 from junior Alivia Ostendorf and a 9.775 from senior Sandra Elsadek.
Ball State also turned in the second-best vault score in program history on Jan. 30, registering an identical mark of 49.150 … Sophomore Suki Pfister led the way with a 9.925, followed by 9.825s from senior Stefanie Schweikert and Elsadek, a 9.800 from sophomore Victoria Henry, and 9.775s from Ostendorf and Ruthberg.
BSU also tied the then-second-best vault score in program history with a 49.100 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16).
Of the four event records, the Cardinals have broken three of them under Saleem's guidance … In addition to last Sunday's beam record, Ball State topped the floor mark with a 49.500 versus Western Michigan on March 5, 2017, and shattered the vault record three times, most recently with a 49.175 versus Western Michigan on Feb. 3, 2019.

VAULTING NEAR PERFECTION

Sophomore Suki Pfister tied the fifth-best vault performance in program history with her score of 9.925 in the Jan. 30 tri-meet sweep … It's the highest-scoring vault in the MAC this season.
Pfister also laned a 9.900 vault in the Jan. 23 dual meet versus Kent State and in the Feb. 4 meet at No. 20 Utah State, making her the only MAC student-athlete with multiple marks of 9.900-or-better on vault so far this season.

VOLPE SOLID ON BEAM

Senior Lauren Volpe enters the weekend ranked ninth in the MAC with an average beam score of 9.796 … She landed a career-best routine of 9.875 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) and has hit for 9.825-or-higher in four of her seven routines this season.
Volpe's career-best beam score of 9.875 ties as the 12th-best score in program history.

RUTHBERG MAKING MOVES ALL AROUND:

Sophomore Hannah Ruthberg has competed in the all-around in a team-leading five meets so far this season … Her best outing came at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) when she turned in a career-best performance of 39.275.
The effort, which ties as the fourth-best in program history, included career-high scores of 9.825 on vault and 9.850 on beam … She also scored 9.800s on bars and floor, hitting on every event … Prior to WMU, Ruthberg's highest score on an event this season was a 9.775 on floor at No. 16 Missouri (Jan. 7).

SUMNER JUST SHY OF PROGRAM BEAM MARK:

Grace Sumner has had a highly impressive freshman campaign, and Jan. 30's home tri-meet was no different as she turned in a 9.900 to lead Ball State's record-setting performance on beam … The effort ties as both the second-best mark in program history and the second-best score on beam in the MAC so far this season.
So far in her debut season, Sumner has landed eight routines of 9.700-or-better with five coming on beam and three on bars.

COOPER ALSO MAKING A MARK

Freshman Erica Cooper made her competition debut in the Jan. 28 quad-meet at Eastern Michigan, leading the team with a 9.800 on floor … She turned in an even better performance in the Jan. 30 home tri-meet, scoring 9.850 which is BSU's best floor score so far this season.

HENRY SCORING STRONG:

Sophomore Victoria Henry is second on the squad with seven scores of 9.800-or-higher so far this season.
She has landed five of those mark on vault, including a season-best 9.875 versus Kent State (Jan. 23) which ties as the 13th-best vault score in program history.
Henry scored a career-best 9.825 on floor and a season-best 9.800 on beam at Western Michigan (Jan. 16).

IN THE EVENT WIN COLUMN:

The Cardinals have claimed nine event victories so far this season.
Sophomore Suki Pfister leads the way with five, tying for top honors on vault at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) before winning it outright in each of the last four meets
Junior Megan Teter has taken top honors on bars twice (Jan. 23 & Jan. 30), while senior Lauren Volpe (Jan. 16), junior Taylor Waldo (Jan. 23) and freshman Grace Sumner (Jan. 30) have each won beam once.
Sophomore Victoria Henry also tied for the top spot on vault with Pfister at WMU.

SCORING 9.800-OR-BETTER:

Ball State has chalked up 43 routines of 9.800-or-better so far this season, led by nine from sophomore Hannah Ruthberg and seven by sophomore Victoria Henry.
Of those 43 routines, 17 have come on vault … BSU has also hit the mark 10 times on beam, nine times on floor, and seven times on bars so far this season.
Overall, the Cardinals hit routines of 9.800-or-better 97 times last season … BSU's floor team led the way at 32 marks at the threshold, followed by bars (28), vault (21) and beam (16) … In addition, Ball State's gymnasts hit 10 routines of 9.900-or-better last season.

Gymnastics Host Bowling Green on Sunday for Alumni Day

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Erica Cooper

Sandra Elsadek

Victoria Henry

Alivia Ostendorf

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Stefanie Schweikert

Grace Sumner

Megan Teter

Sari Thaler

Lauren Volpe

Taylor Waldo

Gymnastics Host Bowling Green on Sunday for Alumni Day

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Erica Cooper

Sandra Elsadek

Victoria Henry

Alivia Ostendorf

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Stefanie Schweikert

Grace Sumner

Megan Teter

Sari Thaler

Lauren Volpe

Taylor Waldo

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