Gymnastics Travels to Penn State Quad Friday

Ball State (11-2) at Penn State Quad
Meet 9 - at Penn State w/Towson & West Virginia	Friday, March 1 at 6 p.m. ET Live Results \| B1G+ Live Stream
Tickets Info	Free Admission
Notes	Ball State \| Penn State \| Towson \| West Virginia
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» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE GYMNASTICS: The Ball State gymnastics team wraps up non-conference competition Friday, when it travels to the Penn State Quad ... In addition to the Cardinals and host Nittany Lions, Towson and West Virginia will be competing in the four-team meet.

» BALL STATE IN THE NATIONAL RANKINGS:
- Ball State enters the Penn State Quad ranked 25th nationally with an NQS of 196.410 according to the latest Road to Nationals Rankings.
- BSU's program record score of 198.025 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) is the 15th-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. 2 LSU, No. 3 Cal, No. 4 Utah, No. 5 Florida, No. 8 Michigan State, No. 9 Alabama and No. 10 UCLA 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 18th nationally with an NQS of 49.225 ... In fact, Ball State's program record score of 49.775 on bars at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) ties as the third-best team score on any apparatus in the nation so far this season, trailing only No. 1 Oklahoma's 49.825 on bars set Feb. 2 and its 49.800 on beam set Feb. 23.
- So far this season, there have been a total of 44 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 three of the nation's 111 scores of 9.975 this season including Victoria Henry's vault at the Ohio State Tri-Meet (Jan. 14), Ashley Szymanski's bars routine in the home opener versus Bowling Green (Jan. 22) and Suki Pfister's vault at George Washington (Feb. 23).

» A QUICK LOOK AT THIS WEEK'S OPPONENTS:
- Penn State enters the week ranked 22nd nationally with an NQS of 196.505 ... Beam is the Nittany Lions' best event as they rank 14th nationally with an NQS of 49.215.
- Towson enters the week ranked 34th nationally with an NQS of 195.860 ... Vault is the Tigers' best event as they rank 18th nationally with an NQS of 49.185.
- West Virginia enters the week ranked 51st nationally with an NQS of 194.925 ... Floor is the Mountaineers' best event as they rank 46th nationally with an NQS of 49.050.

» 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 Christianwith a 9.975 on vault at Northern Illinois (Feb. 19, 2016).

» HENRY HITTING THE 9.900 MARK: Senior Victoria Henry has registered 17 scores of 9.900-or-better over her career, including seven so far this season ... The total includes eight floor routines, seven vaults and two bars performance.

» SHINING ON FLOOR: Along with owning the nation's third-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 23rd-best team effort on floor ... The Cardinals enter Friday's meet ranked 23rd nationally with a floor NQS of 49.305, including 17 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 14 of her 40 collegiate vault performances score 9.900-or-higher ... The total includes one 10.0, one 9.975, three 9.950s, two 9.925s and seven 9.900s ... This season, Pfister has four scores of 9.900-or-higher and ranks first in the MAC and sixth nationally with an NQS of 9.910.

» SZYMANSKI SHINING ON BARS: Ashley Szymanski has led the Cardinals on bars in five of the team's eight meets this season, including winning the event at the Ohio State Tri-meet (Jan. 14) with a 9.900, in the dual versus Bowling Green (Jan. 22) with a 9.975, at Western Michigan (Feb. 17) with a 9.825, and at George Washington (Feb. 23) with a 9.950 ... She is currently ranks first in the MAC and 22nd nationally with a bars NQS of 9.900.

» 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, 30 of her 32 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 ... Entering Friday's meet at Penn State, Middleton ranks first in the MAC and 28th nationally with a floor NQS of 9.910.

» MORE FROM THE ALL AROUND: In last Friday's win at George Washington all four Cardinals posted scores of 39.400-or-higher ... Leading the way was Victoria Henry with a career-best score of 39.475 ... The effort included a 9.950 on vault, a 9.925 on floor, a 9.875 on bars and a 9.725 on beam ... Hannah Ruthberg also turned in a career-best all-around score with a 39.425, counting a career-best 9.925 on floor, a 9.850 on vault and 9.825s on both bars and beam ... While they were not career-best performances, Zoe Middleton and Megan Teter also collected scores of 39.400 ... In total, they were four of the top 10 all-around scores in program history.

SCORING HIGH IN 2024:
- Ball State has registered 111 scores of 9.800-or-higher so far this season, with 22 coming at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) and 19 at George Washington (Feb. 23) ... Of the 111 routines, 33 on floor, 32 have come on bars, 24 on vault and 22 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 31 best team scores in program history … In fact, of Ball State's 36 scores of 195.450-or-higher, 34 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 41 team entries in the vault record book are held by Saleem's teams, as are 25 of 32 scores on bars, 25 of 31 scores on floor and 23 of 28 scores on beam.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Victoria Henry

Carissa Martinez

Zoe Middleton

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Ashley Szymanski

Megan Teter