Gymnastics Looks To Build on Record Performance Friday at NIU

MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State gymnastics team will look to build on last Sunday's program record performance when it returns to the road Friday for a 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT dual meet at Mid-American Conference rival Northern Illinois.

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Friday's meet against the Huskies will be the first of three on the road leading into the MAC Championships hosted by Eastern Michigan at 2 p.m. in the Gervin GameAbove Center.

It will be the first meeting between the Cardinals and Huskies this season, and BSU's first trip to DeKalb, Illinois, since a 195.800-195.750 victory March 1, 2020.

IN THE RTN TEAM RANKINGS:

Ball State enters Friday's meet ranked 34th nationally after the first release of the NQS scores … BSU's Team NQS stands at 195.222 following last Sunday's program record score of 196.325 in a home dual win over Eastern Michigan.
Northern Illinois enters Friday's meet ranked 37th nationally with a NQS of 195.060 … Last Sunday, the Huskies scored 195.500 in a home quad meet, topping Western Michigan, but falling to both Iowa State and Central Michigan.
What is NQS: Qualification for regional competition is based on a team's and an all-around competitor's six best regular-season-meet scores, of which three must be away. To obtain the national qualifying score (NQS), the high score is eliminated, and the remaining five scores are averaged.

IN THE RTN EVENT RANKINGS:

VAULT: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 18th nationally with a NQS vault score of 49.015 … Ball State registered four of the top 15 vault scores in program history so far this season, with its season-best 49.150 mark in the home tri-meet sweep of Central Michigan and Illinois State on Jan. 30 ranking second all-time.
BARS: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 35th nationally with a NQS bars score of 48.670 … BSU tied the eighth-best team bars score in program history last Sunday with a 49.100 in the program record setting win over Eastern Michigan.
BEAM: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 24th nationally with a NQS beam score of 48.800 … Ball State recorded a program record beam score of 49.150 in the home tri-meet sweep of Central Michigan and Illinois State on Jan. 30 and have set three of the top 16 marks on the all-time list so far this season.
FLOOR: The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 38th nationally with a NQS floor score of 48.830 … BSU's season-best floor mark of 49.400 in last Sunday's program record setting win over Eastern Michigan is ties as the second-best mark on BSU's all-time list and ties as the 24th-best floor score in the nation so far this season.

SPEAKING OF THE RECORD BOOKS:

For the first time in program history, the Ball State gymnastics team broke the 196.000 plateau, with a program record team score of 196.325 in last Sunday's victory over Eastern Michigan … For the record, BSU counted a 48.875 on vault, a 49.100 on bars, a 48.950 on beam, and a 49.400 on floor.
The Cardinals have tallied three of the top eight scores in program history so far this season … BSU's 195.850 in the Jan. 30 tri-meet is now tied as the third best in program history, while its 195.675 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) is the eighth best.
Those three performances are not the only time BSU has flirted with a program record under ninth-year head coach Joanna Saleem … In fact, the top 14 team scores in program history have come under Saleem's guidance.

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's 49.400 floor score in last Sunday's dual win over Eastern Michigan is also the second-best score in program history … Junior Megan Teter led the way with a 9.925, while junior Taylor Waldo, Ruthberg, and freshman Erica Cooper all counted 9.875s … Rounding out the score was Elsadek with a 9.850.
Of the four event records, the Cardinals have broken three of them under Joanna Saleem's guidance … In addition to the Jan. 30, 2022, 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.
BSU also came tantalizingly close to the bars record, with the second-best mark in program history at 49.250 last season at Central Michigan (March 13) … The bars record is currently 49.275 set on March 9, 2001, at Illinois-Chicago.

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 landed 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.
Powered by her three high scores, Pfister enters the week ranked first in the MAC and 16th nationally with an NQS vault score of 9.875 … Of her eight vault routines, seven have been 9.800-or-better.

HENRY SCORING STRONG TOO:

Sophomore Victoria Henry is right behind on the vault NQS, ranking third in the MAC and tied for 42nd nationally with a 9.835 average.
Henry is second on the squad with nine scores of 9.800-or-higher so far this season.
She has landed six of those mark on vault, including a season-best 9.875 versus Kent State (Jan. 23) which ties as the 14th-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).

VOLPE SOLID ON BEAM

Senior Lauren Volpe enters the weekend tied for first in the MAC with a NQS beam score of 9.830 … She landed a career-best routine of 9.875 at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) and has hit for 9.825-or-higher in five of her nine 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 seven 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.
Overall, Ruthberg owns four of the top 17 all-around scores in program history, with three of the marks coming this season … Her 39.200 in the program record setting dual win over EMU (Feb. 20) is 10th all-time, while her 39.175 at Utah State with Southern Utah (Feb. 4)
Ruthberg leads the squad with 12 routines of 9.800-or-higher, including six of her last 12 event scores.

WALDO GOES ALL-AROUND:

Junior Taylor Waldo turned in the meet of her career versus Bowling Green (Feb. 13), competing in the all-around for the first time with the Cardinals, scoring a 38.050.
With the Cardinals short-handed on the day, she competed on vault (9.575) and bars (8.875) for the first time in her collegiate career … She also tied her career-best mark with a 9.850 on beam and finished with a 9.750 on floor.

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 third-best score on beam in the MAC so far this season.
So far in her debut season, Sumner has landed nine routines of 9.700-or-better with five coming on beam and four on bars.
She registered a career-best bars score of 9.775 in last Sunday's meet versus Bowling Green.

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.
In the program record setting win over Eastern Michigan (Feb. 20), Cooper counted a career-best floor score of 9.875.

TETER LEADING THE WAY:

Junior Megan Teter is the top Ball State gymnast in a pair of events this season, ranking sixth in the MAC on bars (9.795) and ninth on floor (9.725).
On bars, Teter has landed four routines of 9.800-or-better, including a season-best 9.850 mark in the record setting win over Eastern Michigan (Feb. 20).
She also turned in her best floor routine of the year against the Eagles, with her 9.925 tying for seventh in program history and as the second-best in the MAC so far this season … Overall, she has four marks of 9.800-or-better on floor this season.
For her efforts in the gym, in the classroom, and in the community, Teter was named a Ball State University Top 100 Student.

IN THE EVENT WIN COLUMN:

The Cardinals have claimed 17 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 next four meets
Junior Megan Teter is second on the squad with four event wins, two coming on bars (Jan. 23 & Jan. 30) and two on floor (Feb. 13 & Feb. 20).
Junior Taylor Waldo has three wins on the year, claiming the beam title versus Kent State (Jan. 23), against Bowling Green (Feb. 13), and versus Eastern Michigan (Feb. 20).
Senior Sandra Elsadek earned a pair of event wins versus Bowling Green (Feb. 13), tying for first on both bars and floor.
Senior Lauren Volpe owns a pair of wins on beam, claiming the titles at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) and tying for the top spot versus Eastern Michigan (Feb. 20).
Sophomore Victoria Henry has earned the vault title twice, tying for the top spot at Eastern Michigan (Jan. 16) and claiming the title against Eastern Michigan (Feb. 20).
Sophomore Hannah Ruthberg also has a pair of event wins, tying for the top spot on bars versus Bowling Green (Feb. 13) and claiming the all-around title versus Eastern Michigan (Feb. 20).
Freshman Grace Sumner also owns an event win, with her title on beam in the Jan. 30 tri-meet.

SCORING 9.800-OR-BETTER:

Ball State has chalked up 63 routines of 9.800-or-better so far this season, led by 12 from sophomore Hannah Ruthberg and nine by sophomore Victoria Henry.
Of those 63 routines, 20 have come on vault … BSU has also hit the mark 17 times on floor, 13 times on beam, and 13 times on bars so far this season.
Of those 63 routines, five have been 9.900-or-better … Sophomore Suki Pfister owns a 9.925 on vault (Jan. 30) and junior Megan Teter scored a 9.925 on floor (Feb. 20) … Pfister has also hit 9.900 twice on vault (Jan. 23 & Feb. 2), while freshman Grace Sumner logged a 9.900 on beam (Jan. 30).
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 Looks To Build on Record Performance Friday at NIU

Players Mentioned

Erica Cooper

Sandra Elsadek

Victoria Henry

Alivia Ostendorf

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Stefanie Schweikert

Grace Sumner

Megan Teter

Lauren Volpe

Taylor Waldo

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