Gymnastics Heads West To Battle Utah State & Southern Utah

MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State gymnastics team was able to fly out ahead of the winter storm currently hitting the Midwest to travel to No. 20 Utah State for a Friday tri-meet which also includes No. 24 Southern Utah.

The competition is scheduled to start at 9 p.m. ET / 7 p.m. MT at the Dee Glen Smith Spectrum in Logan, Utah.

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It's the Cardinals first trip out west since the 2018 season when BSU traveled Denver, Colorado, for a quad-meet at Denver. Ball State's last trip to the state of Utah came in 2015, when the Cardinals visited Southern Utah for a Feb. 2 dual which it lost 194.800 to 190.450.

IN THE RTN TEAM RANKINGS:

Ball State enters the weekend ranked 33rd nationally with an average score of 194.979 over its first six meets … Last time out, the Cardinals scored a season-high 195.850 in sweeping last Sunday's home tri-meet versus Central Michigan and Illinois State.
Utah State enters the weekend ranked 20th nationally with an average score of 195.906 … The Aggies scored a season-high mark of 196.450 at BYU last Friday (Jan. 28).
Southern Utah enters the weekend ranked 24th nationally with an average score of 195.675 … The Thunderbirds recorded a season-high score of 196.550 in a Jan. 14 dual at Arizona.

IN THE RTN EVENT RANKINGS:

The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 30th on vault (48.888 average), 31st on beam (48.779), 36th on bars (48.633) and 43rd on floor (48.679).
Ball State's season-high vault score of 49.150 set in last Sunday's tri-meet ties as the 20th-best team vault score in the nation so far this season.
Ball State's program-record beam score of 49.150 set in last Sunday's tri-meet ties as the 29th-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 last Sunday's 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 last Sunday's 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 last Sunday, 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 last Sunday's tri-meet sweep … It's the highest-scoring vault in the MAC this season and gives her two scores of 9.900-or-higher on vault so far this season.
Pfister, who landed a 9.900 on vault in the Jan. 23 dual meet versus Kent State, is 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 seventh in the MAC with an average beam score of 9.821 … 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 six 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 four 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 last Sunday 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 seven routines of 9.700-or-better with four coming on beam and three on bars.

COOPER ALSO MAKING AN IMPACT:

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

HENRY SCORING STRONG:

Sophomore Victoria Henry leads the Cardinals 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 eight event victories so far this season.
Sophomore Suki Pfister leads the way with four, tying for top honors on vault at Western Michigan (Jan. 16) before winning it outright in each of the last three meets
Junior Megan Teter has taken top honors on beam 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 one.
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 37 routines of 9.800-or-better so far this season, led by seven from sophomore Victoria Henry and six from sophomore Hannah Ruthberg.
Of those 36 routines, 15 have come on vault … BSU has also hit the mark nine times on beam, six times on bars, and seven times on floor 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.

Ball State University Athletics

Gymnastics Heads West To Battle Utah State & Southern Utah

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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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