Pfister’s 9.950 on Vault Leads Gymnastics at CMU

MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - - Prior to Friday night, there were only 10 scores of 9.950-or-higher in Ball State gymnastics history.

Sophomore Suki Pfister added an 11th in the Cardinals' regular season finale at Central Michigan's McGuirk Arena, tying for the third-best vault score in program history with a 9.950.

"Suki's vault was amazing," head coach Joanna Saleem said. "It brought so much joy to the whole team to be able to watch her do that. It was beautiful."

Here's a look at that 9??.9??5??0?? on Vault by @pfistersuki_

For more videos, follow our Instagram and Facebook stories!!!#WeFly | #ChirpChirp pic.twitter.com/J95uQQqiAn
— BallState Gymnastics (@BallStateGYM) March 12, 2022

The effort netted Pfister the event win on the night and gave her a league-leading four vault routines of 9.900-or-higher this season.

Unfortunately, it was not enough to lift the Cardinals to a team win, as they suffered a 195.150 to 193.925 setback to the host Chippewas.

"Scores are not always indicative of performance," Saleem said. "I think the team did really well as a whole. We started off a little shaky on bars, then pulled ourselves together and had nice vault and floor performances. Unfortunately, we had some uncharacteristic falls on beam and just didn't do our job on that apparatus today."

The Cardinals will look to build and improve on tonight's performance when it travels to Eastern Michigan next Satruday (March 19) for the 2022 Mid-American Conference Championships.

"We have a couple days of practice here; were we have to go back to just doing gymnastics," Saleem added. "Not get so caught up in trying to be perfect. Our team is full of exceptionally strong gymnasts. They just need to go out and trust that and get ready for the MAC Championships."

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS:
Rotation 1 - Bars (48.400)

Sophomore Victoria Henry lead Ball State in the opening rotation, tying her highest bars score of the season with a 9.800
Senior Marissa Nychyk and junior Megan Teter followed, with 9.775s. It tied as Nychyk's second-best score of the season

Rotation 2 - Vault (49.000)

Sophomore Suki Pfister locked up her eighth vault win of the season by landing a career best 9.950.
It was Pfister's fourth score of at least 9.900 this season on vault, and is currently the highest vault score in the MAC and ranks as the 20th-best nationally
Senior Stefanie Schweikert tied her best vault of the season at 9.825 to rank second on the squad, while sophomore Victoria Henry added a 9.800.

Rotation 3 - Floor (48.825)

Freshman Erica Cooper and sophomore Victoria Henry tied for the team lead on floor with routines of 9.800 each.
Junior Alivia Ostendorf tied her second-best score of the year at 9.775, while senior Sandra Elsadek, junior Megan Teter, and junior Taylor Waldo each earned a 9.725.

Rotation 4 - Beam (48.800)

Junior Alivia Ostendorf looked to spark the Cardinals with the first beam routine, tying her career best with a score of 9.800
Freshman Grace Sumner added her second-best beam effort three gymnasts later, with a team-high 9.825
In her first time on the beam lineup this season, sophomore Grace Evans landed a career-best 9.775.

All-Around

Senior Sandra Elsadek was BSU's lone gymnast to compete in the all-around Friday, scoring a 38.000 … Her best event of the night was a 9.725 on floor.

MORE FROM HEAD COACH JOANNA SALEEM:
With Hannah Ruthberg out of the lineup tonight, resting for the MAC Championships, we had some people step up and do a nice job. Megan Teter took her spot on vault and did well, counting a 9.725 in her second appearance in the lineup this season in that event.

On bars, Marissa Nychyk stepped up and really looked good today. I was super excited for her. Then Megan Teter and Victoria Henry turned in some really nice routines.

Looking at beam, Alivia Ostendorf did awesome starting off with a 9.800. She got up there and did a nice performance. I also loved seeing Grace Sumner and Grace Evans. Sumner turned in another beautiful routine, while Evans did a spectacular job in her first appearance in the beam lineup this season.

I also thought Erica Cooper had a really beautiful floor routine. Overall, I felt the whole floor group did well.

UP NEXT:
Next up for the Ball State gymnastics program will be the 2022 Mid-American Conference Championships hosted by Eastern Michigan on Saturday, March 19, at 2 p.m. in the Gervin GameAbove Center.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Erica Cooper

Sandra Elsadek

Grace Evans

Victoria Henry

Marissa Nychyk

Alivia Ostendorf

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Stefanie Schweikert

Grace Sumner

Megan Teter

Taylor Waldo