Gymnastics Welcomes Central Michigan To Worthen Sunday

MUNCIE, Ind. - - Ball State gymnastics fans, come dressed in your 80's best as the Cardinals welcome Central Michigan to Worthen Arena on Sunday for Stranger Things/80's Day.

In addition to FREE ADMISSION for the 1 p.m. meet, the first 100 fans in attendance will receive a FREE DONUT from Jack's Donuts in the Village.

So far this season, Ball State's home fans have been treated to a pair of great performances, with the Cardinals posting two of the top five team scores in program history in the first two matchups in Worthen this season.

It started with a team score of 196.300, the third-best in program history, in a sweep of Fisk, Pitt, and SEMO on Jan. 29 during the Ball State Quad. The quad sweep also started the BSU's run of 10 straight head-to-head victories.

The Cardinals followed with a score of 196.050 in a Super Bowl Sunday victory over Northern Illinois (Feb. 12).

This Sunday's meet will see the Cardinals attempt to pick up 11th straight win and improve to 4-0 in league duals against a Chippewas squad which ranks 44th nationally with a NQS of 195.010. Ball State is currently 30th in the country with a 195.915 NQS.

Fans unable to attend Sunday's meet can also follow the action from home with:
Live Results: https://ballstatesports.com/GymResults
ESPN+: https://es.pn/3EvA35B

Looking to know more about the squad, here are some highlights of the season to date:

BREAKING RECORDS AT THE TENNESSEE COLLEGIATE CLASSIC:
- The Ball State gymnastics team broke three team records at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 20) … The meet started with the Cardinals counting five scores of 9.800-or-higher on the way to a record vault team score of 49.250 … Two events later, the Cardinals counted five more scores of 9.800-or-higher in a record beam team score of 49.350 … Combined with scores of 49.125 on bars and 48.825 on floor, Ball State finished the meet with a program record team score of 196.550.
- Overall, Ball State tallied a program record seven individual scores of 9.900-or-higher in the meet … The previous best was three scores of 9.900-or-higher in the same meet set March 5, 2017, versus Western Michigan and tied Feb. 6, 2021, in a quad at Eastern Michigan and March 3, 2021, in a home quad.
- Individually, senor Megan Teter set the program record on bars at 9.950; junior Suki Pfister tied the program record on floor at 9.950; seniors Taylor Waldo and Grace Evans tied the program record on beam at 9.925.

MORE RECORD NEWS:
- Senior Taylor Waldo and sophomore Grace Sumner would add two more scores of 9.925 on beam at the Ball State Quad (Jan. 29), while Waldo and senior Lauren Volpe hit the mark in the come-from-behind victory over Northern Illinois (Feb. 12) to give Ball State six record scores on the event so far this season
- In the program's 10 years under current head coach Joanna Saleem, Ball State has tallied the 20 best team scores in program history … In fact, of Ball State's 25 scores of 195.450-or-higher, 23 have been set by Saleem's squads.
- In addition, Saleem's squads own the event records on vault (49.250), beam (49.350), and floor (49.500), along with the second-best score in program history on bars (49.250).
- All 29 entries on the vault record book are held by Saleem's teams, as are 16 of 21 scores on beam, 16 of 22 scores on floor, and 14 of 21 scores on bars.

VAULTING OFF STRONG:
- Ball State's best event so far this season has been vault, with the Cardinals ranking first in the MAC and 21st nationally with an NQS vault score of 49.040.
- Ball State's program-record vault score of 49.250 set at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 20) is also the best in the MAC so far this season and is the 21st-best team high score in the nation.

PFISTER LEADING THE WAY:
- Suki Pfister has picked up right where she left off last season, ranking first in the MAC with a vault NQS score of 9.885.
- Pfister started with a third-place finish in the quad meet at Florida (Jan. 6) with a 9.875 … She followed with back-to-back 9.900s in the quad meet at Rutgers (Jan. 14) and at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 20).
- She would add the MAC's best vault of the season to date at the Ball State Quad (Jan. 29), scoring 9.925 and follow with another 9.900 last Sunday at Kent State (Feb. 19).
- No other student-athlete in the league has an NQS higher then 9.835, with teammates Victoria Henry (9.835) and Hannah Ruthberg (9.815) ranking second and third in the MAC, respectively.

PFISTER ALSO SHINING ON FLOOR:
- Suki Pfister has also turned in six brilliant performances (9.800-or-better) on floor this season, including tying the program record with a score of 9.950 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 20).
- Pfister's score of 9.950 ties as the second-best in the league on floor so far this season.

MORE ON HENRY:
- Victoria Henry has competed in the all-around in all seven meets so far this season, the first seven all-around performances of her collegiate career … She tallied the second-highest all-around score in program history at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 20), counting a 9.925 on floor, a 9.875 on vault, and 9.775s on bars and beam for a score of 39.350.
- She followed with the fourth-best score in program history in the Jan. 22 dual win over Eastern Michigan, earning a 39.325 … The effort included 9.875s on bars and floor, a 9.825 on vault, and a 9.750 on beam.
- She has also logged what are currently the 15th-best and 17th-best all-around scores in program history, respectively, with a 39.200 at Kent State (Feb. 19) and a 39.175 at the Rutgers January Quad (Jan. 14).

RUTHBERG SOLID ALL-AROUND AS WELL:
- Hannah Ruthberg continued her all-around assault on the record book at the Ball State Quad (Jan. 29), tying the seventh-best score in program history at 39.275.
- The effort was led by a career-best score of 9.875 on beam, along with scores of 9.825 on bars, 9.800 on floor and 9.775 on vault.
- Overall, Ruthberg has four of the top 10 all-around scores in program history, with her career-best mark of 39.325 at West Virginia (March 6, 2022) tying as the fourth-best.

SCORING HIGH:
- Overall, the Cardinals counted 85 scores of 9.800-or-higher this season … 29 of those performance have come on floor, including a 9.950 from Suki Pfister, 9.925s from Victoria Henry and Zoe Middleton, and a 9.900 by Megan Teter.
- Ball State has added 23 scores of 9.800-or-better on vault, paced by a 9.925, along with a trifecta of 9.900s, by Suki Pfister.
- The Cardinals also boast 19 scores of 9.800-or-better on beam and 14 on bars so far this season … Megan Teter's program record score of 9.950 leads the team on bars, while Taylor Waldo, Grace Evans, Grace Sumner, and Lauren Volpe have all tied the program record on beam at 9.925 … In fact, Waldo has hit the mark in three of the last four meets.

FRESHMAN IMPACT:
- Freshman Zoe Middleton found an immediate home in the Ball State lineup, competing in three events in each of the first seven meets of the season … Her best meet to date came versus Northern Illinois (Feb. 12) when she scored a 9.925 on floor, a 9.800 on vault, and a 9.800 on bars … She also scored a 9.800 on vault at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 20)
- Of Zoe Middleton's 21 routines this season, 20 of her scores have counted towards Ball State's team total.
- Zoe Middleton also scored a 9.800 in an exhibition on beam versus Northern Illinois (Nov. 12) … If that score would have been in competition, she would have had an all-around score of 39.325 which would have tied as the fourth-best mark in program history.

MORE FROM THE NEWBIES:
- Florida native Karah Vargo made her collegiate debut in her home state, scoring a 9.650 on vault at the Florida Quad Meet (Jan. 6).
- Leah White made her first appearance in the competitive lineup on vault at the Rutgers January Quad (Jan. 14) and has competed on the apparatus ever since with a career-best 9.775 coming at Eastern Michigan (Jan. 22) and versus Northern Illinois (Feb. 12).

BEAM VOLPE UP:
- Ball State's lone fifth-year senior, Lauren Volpe registered a career-best beam score of 9.925 in the win over Northern Illinois (Feb. 12), helping the Cardinals finish the meet with the second-best team score in program history at 49.300.
- In fact, Volpe is one of three current Ball State gymnasts to have a countable score in all five of the top team beam marks in program history, along with Hannah Ruthberg and Grace Sumner.

WHERE THEY STAND ENTERING THE WEEKEND:
- Ball State enters the weekend ranked 30th nationally with a NQS of 195.915 according to the Road To Nationals rankings … BSU's best event is vault, with the team ranking 21st nationally with a NQS score of 49.040.
- Central Michigan enters the weekend ranked 44th nationally with a NQS score of 195.010 … The Chippewas' best event is bars, in which they rank 29th nationally with a NQS of 48.990.

Gymnastics Welcomes Central Michigan To Worthen Sunday

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Players Mentioned

Grace Evans

Victoria Henry

Zoe Middleton

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Grace Sumner

Megan Teter

Karah Vargo

Lauren Volpe

Taylor Waldo

Leah White