Ball State University
Bowling Green
Gymnastics Heads To Bowling Green for Sunday #MACtion
January 31, 2025 | Gymnastics
| Ball State Gymnastics (9-2; 1-0 MAC) at Bowling Green (1-3; 0-2 MAC) | |
| Meet 5 - at Bowling Green | Sunday, Feb. 2 at 2 p.m. ET Live Results  |  YouTube |
| Tickets Info | Purchase Tickets Here |
| Notes | Ball State |  Bowling Green |
| Social Media | Twitter  |  Instagram |
» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE GYMNASTICS: The Ball State gymnastics team travels to Bowling Green Sunday for its first Mid-American Conference road dual of the season ... Action at the Stroh Center is set to begin at 2 p.m.
» UPCOMING HOME MEET PROMOTIONS:
Feb. 9 vs. Central Michigan
    Superhero & Princess Day: Young fans are encouraged to come to the meet dressed as their favorite Superhero or Princess, with the theme playing out throughout the day
    Alumni Day: The Ball State gymnastics team will celebrate its alumni in attendance.
 March 2 vs. Northern Illinois
   Senior Day: The Ball State gymnastics team will recognize its 2025 senior class following the conclusion of the meet.
   Hometown Hero Day: The Cardinals will celebrate all hometown heroes in attendance
» GET YOUR TICKETS NOW: Looking to join us in the gymnastics fun for the 2025 season, purchase your tickets now ... Single meet tickets are available at $10 for adults and $5 for youth ... Visit https://BallStateSports.com/GymTickets to purchase of for more information.
» OFF TO A SOLID START: Ball State opened the 2025 campaign at Missouri's Beauty and the Beast Night (Jan. 3) by tying the best opening-meet team score in program history with a 194.925 ... It was the best team score in the MAC and 14th-best among all NCAA gymnastics programs opening weekend ... It tied the effort set at last year's UNC Quad (Jan. 5, 2024), while the previous record was 194.475 set at Kentucky to open the 2018 season.
» SEASON BEST MARK: Ball State turned in a season-best 195.550 in last Sunday's Ball State Tri and currently ranks first in the MAC and 33rd nationally with an average score of  194.981 ... Of Ball State's 24 routines in the meet, nine either tied for or were career best marks.
» FLOOR LEADING THE WAY FOR THE CARDINALS: Ball State's best rotation so far this season was its 39.150 on floor at the Ball State Quad (Jan. 12) ... Throw in a 49.025 at the Golden Girls Classic hosted by Eastern Michigan and the Cardinals currently rank first in the Mid-American Conference and 25th nationally with an average floor score of 48.956 through the first four meets of the season ... Junior Zoe Middleton is one of three gymnasts in the league with a 9.900-or-better on floor, hitting the 9.900 mark to win the event at the Ball State Quad ... Middleton's 9.875 average is currently first in the league and 26th nationally.
» BARS OFF TO A STRONG START TOO: Ball State's best event opening weekend came on bars, with the Cardinals earning the then-10th-best score in the nation at 49.050 ... Sophomore Ashley Szymanski led the way, earning a 9.875 for her routine which is currently the second-best bars score in the MAC this season ... Szymanski has also won the bars competition at the last two meets with scores of 9.875 and was named the MAC Specialist of the Week after her performance in last Sunday's Ball State Tri.
» MORE ON SZYMANSKI: Ashley Szymanski was crowned a MAC Bars Champion after scoring a 9.925 in her league championships debut last season ... 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 last Sunday's win in the Ball State Tri, Szymanski has won the bars competition in eight of the 18 meets over her collegiate career 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).
» RUTHBERG EARNS BSU'S FIRST MAC HONOR OF 2025: Graduate Hannah Ruthberg opened her fifth season for the Cardinals with a bang, leading the squad on three events and placing second in the all-around at Missouri's Beauty and the Beast Night (Jan. 3) ... The effort helped her earn MAC Gymnast of the Week honors for the third time in her career ... Ruthberg's all-around score of 39.075 also led all MAC student-athletes opening weekend and included scores of 9.800 on beam, 9.775 on floor and 9.750 on vault and bars.
» MORE ON RUTHBERG: Hannah Ruthberg has been a staple in the Ball State lineup over her career, including competing all-around in 29 of the team's last 30 meets ... In fact, Ruthberg has competed all-around in 40 of her 52 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.
» MIDDLETON IS 13-FOR-15: Junior Zoe Middleton has gone 13-for-15 so far this season, with 13 of her 15 total routines counting in the final team score, paced by her 9.900 on floor at the Ball State Quad (Jan. 12) ...Over her collegiate career, Middleton has seen 99 of her 106 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 team scores in program history, along with 18 of the top 20.
» FULLER SHINES IN HER 2025 DEBUT: Sophomore Lindsay Fuller turned in Ball State's best beam routine so far this season with her career-best 9.875 in last Sunday's Ball State Tri ... It is the second-best beam score in the MAC so far this season and combined with her mark of 9.800 in her season debut at the Golden Girls Classic, has her ranked first in the league with an average score of 9.838.
» MOLINA MAKING NOISE: Sophomore Ava Molina turned in a solid meet at the EMU Golden Girls Classic, including posting a career-high 9.825 on floor and tying her career-high score with a 9.775 on beam ... She also scored a solid 9.800 on bars at EMU ... Overall, Molina has scored 9.725-or-higher in nine of her 12 competitive routines so far this season, including all three last Sunday in the Ball State Tri.
» NEW FACES SHINE: Ball State has seen seven student-athletes break into the competitive lineup during the first three meets of the season.
  - Junior Alauna Simms has competed on floor in all four meets this season and was named the team's MVP at the Ball State Quad after posting a career-best 9.825 ... She currently ranks 11th in the MAC with a 9.781 floor average.
  - Senior Cai Afalla turned in a pair of countable scores in her debut in the lineup at Missouri, earning a career best 9.775 on floor and a 9.725 on vault ... She has competed in both events in all four meets this season and turned in a career-best 9.750 on vault at the Ball State Tri.
  - Junior Mary Rose Bellan has shined on bars so far this season, competing in all four meets and earning scores of 9.850 at Missouri and at EMU's Golden Girls Classic
 - Sophomore Delaney McMahon made her competitive debut on beam at Missouri, tying for BSU's second-best score with a 9.775 ... She has competed on beam in all four meets for the Cardinals so far this season and landed a career-best score of 9.825 at the Ball State Tri.
 - Sophomore Lindsay Girard made her competitive debut on both floor (9.550) and vault (9.625) at Missouri ... She has vaulted in all four meets for BSU this season, while earning career-best scores of 9.825 on vault and 9.725 on floor at the Ball State Tri.
  - Freshman Karli Mercer made her collegiate debut with a career-best 9.725 on vault at Missouri ... She has competed in all four meets so far this season and is fourth on the squad and 31st in the MAC with an average score of 9.688.
  - Freshman Jordanna Phillis was the latest Ball State gymnast to make her collegiate debut, competing on both bars (9.775) and vault (9.625) at EMU's Golden Girls Classic ... She followed by scoring a 9.675 on vault and a 9.775 on bars at the Ball State Tri ... All four of her marks have counted in the final team score.
» WELCOME BACK SUKI: The first All-American in program history, earning WCGA First Team All-America in 2024 and WCGA Second Team All-America in 2023, Suki Pfister will be returning for one more go around with the Cardinals in 2025 ... Pfister, who owns program records on both vault (10.0) and floor (9.950), 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.
» 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.
» SCORING HIGH IN 2025: So far this season, the Cardinals have produced 30 scores of 9.800-or-better ... Of the 30, 10 have come on bars, nine have come on floor, six have come on beam and five have come on vault ... Last season, Ball State registered 187 scores of 9.800-or-higher, 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 included 55 scores of 9.900-or-better.
» RECORDS UNDER SALEEM:
  - In the program's first 12 seasons under head coach Joanna Saleem, Ball State has tallied the 38 best team scores in program history … In fact, of Ball State's 42 scores of 195.450-or-higher, 40 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 31 of 38 scores on bars, 28 of 34 scores on floor and 27 of 32 scores on beam.
Players Mentioned
