Gymnastics Opens 2025 Season Friday at Missouri
January 02, 2025 | Gymnastics
| Ball State Gymnastics at Beauty and the Beast | |
| Meet 1 - at Missouri   w/Illinois State and SEMO |
Friday, Jan. 3 at 7 p.m. ET / 6 p.m. CT Live Results  |  SEC Network+ |
| Tickets Info | Purchase Tickets Here |
| Notes | Ball State |  Missouri  |  Illinois State  |  SEMO |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE GYMNASTICS: The Ball State gymnastics program officially opens the 2025 season Friday when it travels to Missouri for Beauty and the Beast night at Mizzou Arena, which will feature simultaneous gymnastics and wrestling competitions ... Joining the Cardinals and host Tigers for the gymnastics portion will be Illinois State and SEMO.
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» 2024 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS:
- Ball State earned its second consecutive team berth in the NCAA Regionals by finishing the regular season ranked 34th nationally with an NQS of 196.600.
- The Cardinals were .050 away from advancing to the second round of the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional, suffering a 195.825 to 195.775 setback to Illinois in the first round.
- Five individuals competed in the NCAA second round led by Zoe Middleton who placed 15th in the all-around with a score of 39.025 ... Ashley Szymanskiturned in Ball State's top individual score of the day, finishing seventh among the two sessions on bars with a score of 9.900 ... Suki Pfister scored 9.825s on both vault and floor, while Megan Teter finished her collegiate career with a 9.825 on bars and Victoria Henry concluded hers with a 9.725 on vault.Â
- Ball State's program record score of 198.025 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) tied as the 40th-highest team score in the nation ... The Cardinals were the first program in the country to break the 198 mark last season.
- Overall, Ball State turned in five of the top eight team scores in program history last season, including the top two marks ... BSU's student-athletes also set team records on vault (49.375), bars (49.775) and floor (49.625) last season.
- The Cardinals were one of the nation's top bars teams last season, ranking 24th nationally with an NQS of 49.255 ... In fact, Ball State's program record score of 49.775 on bars at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) tied as the eighth-best team score on any apparatus in the nation last season.
» BALL STATE IN THE MAC IN 2024:
- Ball State earned a share of its second consecutive Mid-American Conference regular season championship with a 5-1 league dual record ... The Cardinals shared the title with Western Michigan for the second consecutive season.
- Ball State placed second at the MAC Championships with a score of 196.475, falling just shy of WMU's score of 196.525 ... Despite the team setback, three Cardinals claimed individual MAC titles ... Zoe Middleton was a co-champion on floor (9.900) and beam (9.900) and was the all-around champion with a mark of 39.525, which was .275 better than the next closest competitor ... Ashley Szymanski was co-champion on bars (9.925) and Suki Pfister was co-champion on floor (9.900).
- A program record six Ball State gymnasts earned All-Mid-American Conference honors for the 2024 season ... Representing the Cardinals on the All-MAC First Team were Suki Pfister on vault and Ashley Szymanski on bars ... Earning All-MAC Second Team honors were Victoria Henry on vault, Hannah Ruthberg on beam, Zoe Middleton on floor and Megan Teter in the all-around.
- In the specialty awards, Suki Pfister was named the MAC Specialist of the Year for the third consecutive season ... Ashley Szymanski became the first gymnast in program history to earn MAC Freshman of the Year honors ... Head coach Joanna Saleem was named the MAC Coach of the Year for the third time in the past four seasons.
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» WELCOME BACK FOR ONE MORE GO AROUND: Two members of last season's squad elected to use their COVID years of eligibility for one more go-around with the squad ... Returning for their fifth seasons of eligibility are Suki Pfister and Hannah Ruthberg.
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» MORE ON PFISTER: The first All-American in program history, earning WCGA First Team All-America in 2024 and WCGA Second Team All-America in 2023, Pfister owns program records on both vault (10.0) and floor (9.950) ... Pfister, who finished the 2024 regular season tied for fifth nationally with a vault NQS of 9.935, has turned in a score of 9.900-or-higher on 18 of her 46 collegiate vaults ... The total includes one 10.0, one 9.975, four 9.950s, three 9.925s and nine 9.900s.
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» PFISTER ROCKS THE FLOOR TOO: In addition to being one of the nation's vault leaders, Suki Pfister was crowned a 2024 MAC Floor Champion after earning a 9.900 at the MAC Championships ... It is the first MAC title of Pfister's illustrious career ... Along with her league title, Pfister tied the program record for a second time in her career with a 9.950 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) ... Of her 16 collegiate floor routines, six have produced scores of 9.900-or-higher.
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» MORE ON RUTHBERG: Hannah Ruthberg has been a staple in the Ball State lineup over her career, including competing all around in each of the last 26 meets ... In fact, Ruthberg has competed all around in 37 of her 48 collegiate meets and owns four of the top 20 all-around scores in program history ... Her best effort was a 39.425 last season at George Washington (Feb. 23), which is the sixth-best score in program history ... In addition, Ruthberg turned in career-best scores on all four apparatuses last season, including a 9.925 on floor, a pair of 9.925s on bars, a 9.900 on beam and a 9.875 on vault.
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» A SENSATIONAL SOPHOMORE SEASON: Zoe Middleton turned in a dominating performance at the 2024 MAC Championships, winning titles in the all-around (39.525), beam (9.900) and floor (9.900) ... Just the second all-around champion in program history, she is also the first Ball State gymnast to capture three MAC individual titles in one season.
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» MORE ON MIDDLETON: In addition to earning three MAC individual championships, Zoe Middleton earned Second Team All-MAC honors for the first time in her career after ranking second in the league on floor with an NQS of 9.920 ... She posted five scores of 9.925 on floor, while also tallying a pair of 9.900s ... A three-time MAC Gymnast of the Week, Middleton was also BSU's top all-around gymnast with an NQS of 39.390 ... She led Ball State with 41 scores of 9.800-or-better, including the first perfect 10.0 in program history on bars and a program record 39.750 in the all-around ... She also turned in career-best scores on vault (9.950) and beam (9.900) last season, while earning 11 individual event wins and six all-around titles.Â
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» YOU CAN COUNT ON HER: Over her first two seasons, Zoe Middleton has seen 86 of her 91 total routines count in the final team score ... The effort includes 49 of 52 routines last season, along with 37 of 39 routines her freshman campaign ... Over that time, Ball State has turned in the top 10 teams scores in program history, along with 18 of the top 20.
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» SHINING ON BARS: Ashley Szymanski was crowned a MAC Bars Champion after scoring a 9.925 in her league championships debut ... That followed a regular season which saw her earn First Team All-MAC honors on bars after ranking first in the league and 24th nationally with an NQS of 9.920 ... Including her MAC title, Szymanski won the bars competition in six meets last season and turned in seven routines of 9.900-or-higher ... Her career-best score was a 9.975 in her MAC debut versus Bowling Green (Jan. 22).
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» OTHER KEY RETURNERS:
- Grace Sumner returns for her senior year as one of the top beam specialists in program history, including a program record score of 9.925 at the Ball State Quad (Jan. 29, 2023) ... Sumner has scored 9.800-or-higher in 21 of her 40 collegiate beam routines, including her program record 9.925 and a trio of 9.900s.
- Sumner has also competed on bars in 34 of her 40 collegiate meets, producing a career-best score of 9.875 twice last season ... Overall, she has 12 career bars scores of 9.800-or-higher, with seven coming last season.
- Carissa Martinez also returns for her senior season after a solid first year for the Cardinals in 2024 ... After spending her first two seasons at Centenary College, Martinez found a home in the Ball State vault and floor lineup a year ago ... She produced career-high scores of 9.925 on floor and 9.825 on vault and finished the season with a total of five scores of 9.800-or-higher.
- Ava Molina cracked the bars lineup for the last four meets of the 2024 season, including producing a career-high score of 9.900 in the dual victory over Eastern Michigan (March 17).
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» SCORING HIGH IN 2024: Ball State registered 187 scores of 9.800-or-higher during the 2024 season, led by the team's 22 at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic (Jan. 19) and 19 at George Washington (Feb. 23) ... Of the 187 routines, 54 were on floor, 53 on bars, 44 on vault and 36 on beam ... The total includes 55 scores of 9.900-or-better.
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» RECORDS UNDER SALEEM:
- In the program's first 11 seasons under head coach Joanna Saleem, Ball State has tallied the 37 best team scores in program history … In fact, of Ball State's 41 scores of 195.450-or-higher, 39 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 46 team entries in the vault record book are held by Saleem's teams, as are 28 of 35 scores on bars, 27 of 33 scores on floor and 27 of 32 scores on beam.
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» ONE MORE RECORD TO WATCH FOR FRIDAY: Ball State started the 2024 season with the best opening meet score in program history with a 194.925 at the UNC Quad (Jan. 5, 2024) ... The previous record was 194.475 set at Kentucky to open the 2018 season.
Players Mentioned
