Pfister, Middleton Shine in NCAA First Round

ANN ARBOR, Michigan - - The Ball State gymnastics team turned in another strong team performance Wednesday afternoon at the Crisler Center, unfortunately it was not enough to advance as the team suffered a 195.825 to 195.775 setback to Illinois in the first round of the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional.

"Overall, we had a solid performance," head coach Joanna Saleem said. "There were mistakes made, but it's such a better team than we've had in the fact they can handle those mistakes and push each other. Their approach for postseason this year was way more competitive, and I told them at the end that this continues to build the program."

While the team portion of the season is over, the Cardinals will still have five individuals competing in Thursday's night session in the regional's second round.

"It didn't end the way we wanted it to today, but it continues to build because now they can understand how close a half tenth is," Saleem added. "Every routine out there could have found a half tenth. That's something as a group we have to learn how to continue to work on the details throughout the year and continue to be hungry and aggressive until the very last routine."

Set to represent Ball State starting at 7 p.m. tomorrow will be sophomore Zoe Middleton in the all-around, senior Suki Pfister on vault and floor, senior Victoria Henry on vault, graduate student Megan Teter on bars and freshman Ashley Szymanski on bars.

Wednesday's meet was highlighted by Pifster winning her eighth vault competition of the season, adding to her lore with another score of 9.900.

In addition, Middleton would go on to capture the all-around title with a score of 39.275, while tying for the win on beam with her 9.850. Her day also included countable scores of 9.825 on vault and 9.800s on both bars and floor.

"There were some awesome things about today," Saleem concluded. "Suki's vault was amazing and Zoe putting together a solid meet and going out there and winning the all-around. Grace Sumner finishing strong, in fact, the whole beam group came over and did a tremendous job of staying focused on us and doing they gymnastics we are capable of doing."

ROTATION 1 - BARS (48.800)
Ball State opened the day with a 48.800 on bars, led by scores of 9.800 by both Middleton and Teter.

The Cardinals also counted 9.750s from senior Hannah Ruthberg and freshman Ava Molina, as well as a 9.700 from freshman Ashley Szymanski.

ROTATION 2 - VAULT (49.100)
The Cardinals shined in the second rotation, with Pfister winning the event with a 9.900. The effort helped BSU post a 49.100 as a team.

Henry and Middleton were right behind, tying for second overall with scores if 9.825. Throw in a 9.800 from Ruthberg and the Cardinals had the four highest scores on vault for the day.

Junior Carissa Martinez turned in Ball State's final countable score with a 9.750.

ROTATION 3 - FLOOR (48.900)
Ball State added three more scores of 9.800 on floor, with Ruthberg, Pfister and Middleton each hitting the mark. The effort helped net the Cardinals a team score of 48.900 in the event.

The Cardinals also counted routines of 9.750 from both Teter and Henry.

ROTATION 4 - BEAM (48.975)
Junior Grace Sumner provided one of the day's biggest highlights for the Cardinals, ending BSU's portion of the competition with a 9.850 to tie for first on beam with Middleton and Amelia Knight from Illinois.

The Cardinals also counted 9.775s from both Szymanski and Ruthberg, as well as a 9.725 from Henry.

ALL-AROUND
In addition to Middleton claiming the all-around title with a 39.275, Ruthberg took second with her 39.125 which included 9.800s on both vault and floor, along with a 9.775 on beam and a 9.750 on bars.

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Players Mentioned

Victoria Henry

Carissa Martinez

Zoe Middleton

Ava Molina

Suki Pfister

Hannah Ruthberg

Grace Sumner

Ashley Szymanski

Megan Teter