Gymnastics Battles WMU For League Lead Saturday

Ball State (10-1; 3-0 MAC) at Western Michigan (10-1; 3-0 MAC)
Meet 7 - at Western Michigan	Saturday, Feb. 16 at 4 p.m. ET Live Results \| ESPN+
Tickets Info	Single Meet: $6 Adult / $4 Youth (18-&-Under) Purchase Tickets Online
Notes	Ball State \| Western Michigan
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» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE GYMNASTICS: The Ball State gymnastics team returns to action Saturday, when it travels to Western Michigan for a key 4 p.m. Mid-American Conference matchup at University Arena ... Both teams enter the meet with 3-0 league ledgers after tying for the 2023 MAC regular season championship.

» BALL STATE IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS:
- Ball State enters the weekend ranked first in the MAC and 21st nationally with an average team score of 196.213 in the latest Road to Nationals rankings.
- BSU's program record score of 198.025 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) is the eighth-highest team score in the nation ... The Cardinals were the first program in the country to break the 198 mark this season, while No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 3 LSU, No. 8 UCLA and No. 10 Michigan State are the only programs to score higher than Ball State since.
- The Cardinals have proven to be one of the nation's top bars teams this season, ranking 13th nationally with an average score of 49.233 ... In fact, Ball State's program record score of 49.775 on bars at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) ties as the second-best team score on any apparatus in the nation so far this season, trailing only No. 1 Oklahoma's 49.825 set Feb. 2 in a tri-meet at then-No. 23 Arizona State with No. 2 Cal.
- So far this season, there have been a total of 31 perfect 10.0s scored nationally ... Three of them have come from Ball State gymnasts, starting with senior Suki Pfister on vault at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) ... Sophomore Zoe Middleton and graduate student Megan Teter added perfect 10.0s on bars later in the meet, the first two perfect 10.0s in program history in the event.
- BSU gymnasts also boasts two of the nation's 69 scores of 9.975 this season including Victoria Henry's vault at the Ohio State Tri-Meet (Jan. 14) and Ashley Szymanski's bars routine in the home opener versus Bowling Green (Jan. 22).

» A QUICK LOOK AT THE BRONCOS:
- Central Michigan entered the week ranked 36th nationally with an average team score of 195.667 which is third among MAC programs ... WMU's best score of the season was a 196.425 in a Jan. 28 home dual win over Bowling Green
- Event wise, WMU enters the week ranked 23rd nationally on both vault (49.046) and floor (49.221).

» RECORDS FALL AGAIN AT TENNESSEE COLLEGIATE CLASSIC:
- For the second consecutive season, the Ball State gymnastics program shattered records at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19), highlighted by a team record score of 198.025 ... The Cardinals were the first program in the nation to break the 198 mark this season, with the score also being a Mid-American Conference record.
- The effort included program event records on vault (49.375), bars (49.775) and floor (49.625), as well as the fourth best beam score in program history (49.250) ... The program's beam record of 49.350 was set at last season's Tennessee Collegiate Classic.
- Ball State's gymnasts registered a program meet record 12 scores of 9.900-or-higher, including perfect 10.0s by Suki Pfister (vault), Zoe Middleton (bars) and Megan Teter (bars) ... Prior to the meet, the Cardinals only had one perfect 10 in program history.
- Ball State's student-athletes earned 21 career best scores over the course of the meet, with each athlete who competed tallying at least one.

» MORE RECORD NOTES FROM TENNESSEE:
- On floor, Suki Pfister tied the program record for a second time in her career with a 9.950 ... Three Cardinals, Carissa Martinez, Zoe Middleton and Megan Teter, all earned 9.925s, while Hannah Ruthberg added a 9.900 ... It marked the first time in program history all five countable scores on an event were 9.900-or-higher.
- Ball State produced five of the top 10 individual bars scores in program history later in the meet, led by the first two perfect 10s on bars in the BSU record book from Zoe Middleton and Megan Teter ... The Cardinals also received 9.925s on bars from Ashley Szymanski, Victoria Henry and Hannah Ruthberg to give the program its first-ever event with all five countable scores at 9.925-or-higher.
- Zoe Middleton crushed the program's all-around record with a 39.750, including a 10.0 on bars, a 9.950 on vault, a 9.925 on floor and a 9.875 on beam ... It currently ties as the eighth-highest all-around score in the nation this season ... The previous program record was 39.400 set twice last season ... All five of Middleton's scores were career-best efforts.
- Megan Teter and Victoria Henry also passed the previous all-around mark with scores of 39.575 and 39.450, respectively ... Teter's effort of 39.575 included a 10.0 on bars, a 9.925 on floor, a 9.850 on beam and a 9.800 on vault ... Henry's effort of 39.450 counted a 9.925 on bars, a 9.850 on beam, a 9.850 on floor and a 9.825 on vault.

» A RECORD OPENER AS WELL: Ball State started the season with the best opening meet score in program history with a 194.925 at the UNC Quad (Jan. 5) ... The previous record was 194.475 set at Kentucky to open the 2018 season.

» GOING 9.975-OR-HIGHER: Senior Victoria Henry turned in the best vault of her career to win the event at the Ohio State Tri-meet (Jan. 14) with a mark of 9.975 ... Freshman Ashley Szymanski added a career-best 9.975 of her own on bars to win the event in the dual victory over Bowling Green (Jan. 22) ... Along with the three perfect 10.0s registered at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) by Suki Pfister, Zoe Middleton and Megan Teter, only seven gymnasts in program history have register a score of 9.975-or-higher ... The other two are Sarah Mikrut with a 10.0 at Kent State (Feb. 21, 1997) and Denasiha Christian with a 9.975 on vault at Northern Illinois (Feb. 19, 2016).

» HENRY HITTING THE 9.900 MARK: Senior Victoria Henry has registered 15 scores of 9.900-or-better over her career, including five so far this season ... The total includes seven floor routines, six vaults and two bars performance.

» SHINING ON FLOOR: Along with owning the nation's second-best event team score this season with its 49.775 on bars at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19), Ball State's 49.625 on floor the same night is tied as the nation's 12th-best team effort on floor ... The Cardinals enter the weekend ranked 22nd nationally with an average floor score of 49.233, including 12 individual routines of 9.900-or-higher, led by Suki Pfister's program-record tying effort of 9.950 also set at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic.

» PFISTER HITTING HIGH MARKS ON VAULT: Including her first career 10.0 on vault at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19), Suki Pfister has had 13 of her 37 collegiate vault performances score 9.900-or-higher ... The total includes one 10.0, three 9.950s, two 9.925s and seven 9.900s.

» SZYMANSKI SHINING ON BARS: Ashley Szymanski has led the Cardinals on bars in three of the team's six meets this season, including winning the event at the Ohio State Tri-meet (Jan. 14) with a 9.900 and in the dual versus Bowling Green (Jan. 22) with a 9.975 ... She is currently the highest-ranked gymnast in the league, holding 28th on bars with an average score of 9.892.

» ONE TO WATCH: Zoe Middleton, one of two Ball State student-athletes named to the 2024 MAC Gymnasts to Watch list, has provided plenty of highlights for the Cardinals so far this season including her perfect 10.0 on bars and program record all-around score of 39.750 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) ... So far this season, 22 of her 24 routines have counted in the final team score ... During her freshman campaign, 37 of Middleton's 39 routines counted towards Ball State's team total.

» MORE FROM THE ALL AROUND: Hannah Ruthberg also turned in a solid all-around effort at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19), turning in the second-best performance of her career with a score of 39.375 ... The effort included career-best scores of 9.925 on bars and 9.900 on floor, as well as a 9.875 on beam and a 9.675 on vault.

» SCORING HIGH IN 2024:
- Ball State has registered 78 scores of 9.800-or-higher so far this season, with eight coming at the UNC Quad (Jan. 5), 10 at the Ohio State Tri-meet (Jan. 14), 22 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19), 14 versus Bowling Green (Jan. 22), 12 versus Kent State (Feb. 4) and 12 at CMU (Feb. 9) ... Of the 78 routines, 25 have come on bars, 23 on floor, 17 on vault and 13 on beam ... The total includes 29 scores of 9.900-or-better.

» RECORDS UNDER SALEEM:
- In the program's first 11 seasons under head coach Joanna Saleem, Ball State has tallied the 30 best team scores in program history … In fact, of Ball State's 34 scores of 195.450-or-higher, 32 have been set by Saleem's squads.
- Saleem's squads own the event records on all four apparatus: vault (49.375), bars (49.775), beam (49.350), and floor (49.625).
- All 39 entries in the vault record book are held by Saleem's teams, as are 24 of 31 scores on bars, 23 of 29 scores on floor and 21 of 26 scores on beam.

» A FEW MORE EARLY HIGHLIGHTS:
- Junior Grace Sumner turned in her best beam performance of the season in the win at Central Michigan (Feb. 9), earning a score of 9.900 to win the event ... It was BSU's best individual effort on beam so far this season.
- Ball State victory at Central Michigan last Friday was its first road win over the Chippewas since the 1996 season, snapping a string of 14 consecutive losses at CMU.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Victoria Henry

Carissa Martinez

Zoe Middleton

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Grace Sumner

Ashley Szymanski

Megan Teter