Gymnastics Visits Bowling Green Friday

MUNCIE, Ind. - - The Ball State gymnastics program puts its 11-match head-to-head winning streak on the line when it visits Bowling Green Friday for a 6 p.m. league dual at the Anderson Arena.

BSU has been red hot this year with the Cardinals posting five of the top six team scores in program history, including the fifth-best mark of 196.100 last Sunday in the victory over Central Michigan.

This Friday's meet will see the Cardinals attempt to avenge last year's lost against a
Bowling Green squad which ranks 58th nationally with a NQS of 194.050. Ball State is currently 30th in the country with a 196.045 NQS.

Fans unable to attend Friday's meet can also follow the action from home with:
Live Results: https://bit.ly/3kFlMfM
Live Video: https://bit.ly/3J9qFHF

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
- Junior Victoria Henry broke a 26-year-old program record with her all-around performance against Central Michigan last Sunday (Feb. 27) … She started the day with a 9.875 on vault, followed by a 9.775 on bars, and a career best 9.850 on beam … Henry then closed the meet on floor, earning the event win with a 9.900 … Added together, she scored a 39.400 to top the previous all-around record of 39.375 set at the 1997 MAC Championships.
- In the program's 10 years under current head coach Joanna Saleem, Ball State has tallied the 21 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 30 entries on the vault record book are held by Saleem's teams, as are 17 of 22 scores on beam, 16 of 22 scores on floor, and 15 of 22 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 26th nationally with an NQS vault score of 49.055.
- 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 tied for the 28th-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 and 12^th nationally with a vault NQS score of 9.900.
- 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 a score of 9.925 at the Ball State Quad (Jan. 29) and follow with another score of 9.900 versus Kent State (Feb. 19).
- Pfister topped them all last Sunday against Central Michigan (Feb. 27) tying her career-high with a 9.950 to earn the event win … The effort included a 10.00 from the head judge in the event … Pfister's score is tied as the third-best individual score in program history and the highest vault score in the MAC this season.
- No other student-athlete in the league has an NQS higher then 9.845, with teammates Victoria Henry (9.845) and Hannah Ruthberg (9.815) ranking second and fifth 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 eight meets so far this season, the first eight all-around performances of her collegiate career … Last time out versus Central Michigan (Feb. 27), she set the program standard with a score of 39.400.
- She tallied the third-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 fifth-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.
- Overall, Henry has three of the top five all-around scores in program history.

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 eighth-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 six of the top 16 all-around scores in program history, with her career-best mark of 39.325 at West Virginia (March 6, 2022) tying as the fifth best.

SCORING HIGH:
- Overall, the Cardinals counted 96 scores of 9.800-or-higher this season … 32 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 25 scores of 9.800-or-better on vault, paced by a 9.950, a 9.925, and a trifecta of 9.900s, by Suki Pfister.
- The Cardinals also boast 22 scores of 9.800-or-better on beam and 17 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 three times this season.

FRESHMAN IMPACT:
- Freshman Zoe Middleton found an immediate home in the Ball State lineup, competing in three events in each of the first eight 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 24 routines this season, 23 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 fifth-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 196.045 according to the Road To Nationals rankings … BSU's best event is vault, with the team ranking 26th nationally with a NQS score of 49.055.
- Bowling Green enters the weekend ranked 58th nationally with a NQS score of 194.050 … The Falcons' best event is vault, in which they rank 46th nationally with a NQS of 48.815.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Grace Evans

Victoria Henry

Zoe Middleton

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Grace Sumner

Megan Teter

Karah Vargo

Lauren Volpe

Taylor Waldo

Leah White