Gymnastics Will Be Well Represented at NCAA Lexington Regional

Friday, April 3

Lexington, KY

1 p.m.

Ball State University

NCAA Lexington Regional

Delaney McMahon celebrates her beam routine at WMU

Gymnastics Will Be Well Represented at NCAA Lexington Regional

March 31, 2026 | Gymnastics

Ball State Gymnastics (13-8; 4-2 MAC) at NCAA Lexington Regional
Session I - NCAA Lexington Regionals hosted by Kentucky at Historic Memorial Coliseum	Friday, April 3 at 1 p.m. ET Live Results \| ESPN+
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» THIS WEEK IN BALL STATE GYMNASTICS: Ball State gymnastics is sending five individuals to the NCAA Lexington Regional with the Cardinals competing in the first regional semifinal at 1 p.m. ET Friday at Historic Memorial Coliseum in Lexington, Kentucky ... The meet will be broadcast live on ESPN+ and live results will be available courtesy of Virtius.

» AT THE NCAA REGIONALS: The Ball State gymnastics team will have gymnasts competing in the NCAA Regionals for the ninth consecutive season (factoring out the 2020 COVID-19 season when no regionals were held) ... In two of those seasons, 2023 and 2024, the Cardinals also earned team bids into NCAA First Round duals.

» REPRESENTING THE CARDINALS IN 2026:
- Senior Zoe Middleton will be competing in the all-around Friday, marking the third straight season she has earned an individual all-around berth ... She finished 15th at the 2024 NCAA Ann Arbor Regional with an all-around score of 39.025 ... The effort was led by a 9.850 on bars and scores of 9.800 on both vault and floor ... Middleton was unable to compete in the 2025 NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional due to injury.
- In BSU's first round meet vs. Illinois at the 2024 Ann Arbor Regional, Middleton took top honors in the all-around with a score of 39.275 ... She tied for the win on beam (9.850), tied for second on both vault (9.825) and floor (9.800), and tied for third on bars (9.800) ... Middleton also competed in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Norman Regional versus NC State, tying for sixth on both vault (9.750) and floor (9.800), while tying for seventh on bars (9.800)
- Junior Ashley Szymanski will be competing on bars for the third straight season, while also earning her first individual bid on beam ... As a freshman, Szymanski tied for seventh on bars at the NCAA Ann Arbor Regional with a 9.900 ... She finished tied for 35th overall at last season's NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional with a score of 9.775.
- In the first round of the 2024 NCAA Ann Arbor Regional versus Illinois, Szymanski tied for sixth on beam (9.775) and took 10th on bars (9.700).
- While junior Ava Molina will be making her NCAA Regional individual debut, she did compete on bars as a freshman in BSU's 2024 NCAA Ann Arbor First Round meet versus Illinois, tying for sixth with a score of 9.750.
- Senior Mary Rose Bellan and junior Delaney McMahon will be making their NCAA Regional debuts Friday at Historic Memorial Coliseum.

BALL STATE NEWS AND NOTES:
» VAULTING TO THE TOP: Senior Zoe Middleton turned in the best vault by a Mid-American Conference gymnast so far this season when she scored 9.925 to win the event at the Maryland Quad (March 7) ... It was her second vault of at least 9.900 this season, and the second-best vault of her career, trailing only her 9.950 set Jan. 19, 2024, at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic.

» THE ONE AND ONLY: With her 9.900 to tie for the event win on bars at the Maryland Quad (March 7), Zoe Middleton became the first and only MAC gymnast to score 9.900-or-higher in all four events this season ... Already the first gymnasts in program history to achieve the feat, Middleton has six scores of 9.900-or-higher in 2026, raising her career total to 26 which ties Suki Pfister's (2022-25) career total for the program record.

» MORE ON MIDDLETON'S RECORDS: Zoe Middleton holds the program record in the all-around (39.750) and on bars (10.00), is tied for sixth on vault (9.950), tied for ninth on floor (9.925) and tied for 11th on beam (9.900) ... Middleton's solid gymnastics has helped the Cardinals register the top 11 team scores in program history, along with 20 of the top 22 over her career.

» MAKING IT COUNT: A 2025 First Team All-MAC selection and a two-time Second Team All-MAC honoree (2024 & 2026), Zoe Middleton enters her final NCAA Regional having seen 159 of her 177 competitive routines count in Ball State's final team score over her illustrious career ... She owns 27 career individual event wins and 17 career all-around titles ... Of her 27 individual wins, 13 have been on floor, six have come on vault, five on bars and three on beam.

» MIDDLETON'S 2026 MAC WEEKLY HONORS: Zoe Middleton was named the MAC Specialist of the Week on Jan. 12 for her effort in Ball State's season-opener versus Rutgers and Western Michigan (Jan. 11) when she scored 9.900 on beam and 9.825 on bars ... It was her first career MAC Specialist of the Week honor ... She picked up her eighth career MAC Gymnast of the Week honor Feb. 24 for her all-around performances at the Mizzou Quad (Feb. 20) and at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) ... Middleton won the all-around title (39.225) and tied for the vault win (9.850) at WMU ... She scored 39.125 in the all-around at Mizzou, including tying for fifth on floor with a season-best score of 9.900 ... Overall, all eight of Middleton's performances counted in the final team score during the week, with six of her routines scoring 9.800-or-better.

» SPEAKING OF MAC HONORS: Junior Ashley Szymanski was named the MAC Specialist of the Year for the second straight season after ranking first in the league in beam NQS (9.870) and second in bars NQS (9.895) ... In addition, she was a four-time MAC Specialist of the Week honoree over the course of the season with the latest coming after event wins on both bars (9.900) and beam (9.875) at the Maryland Quad (March 7) ... Szymanski's first came Jan. 20 for her effort in the dual win over Bowling Green (Jan. 18) when she won both the bars (9.775) and the beam (9.875) competitions ...The second came on Jan. 27 after she claimed the win on bars (9.800) and placed third on beam (9.850) in the win at Northern Illinois (Jan. 24) ... The third came Feb. 17 after she scored 9.950 on bars and a career-high 9.925 on beam to win both events versus Western Michigan ... She is now a six-time career MAC Specialist of the Week recipient.

» SZYMANSKI NOT MISSING A BEAT: A two-time MAC individual bars champion (2024 & 2025) Ashley Szymanski has won six bars titles so far this season ... Szymanski turned in back-to-back 9.950s in the second Ball State Tri (Feb. 8) and vs. Eastern Michigan (Feb. 15), which ties as the best bars score in the league this season ... Overall, she has 18 bars victories in 39 collegiate meets ... Szymanski scored a career-high 9.975 in her MAC debut Jan. 22, 2024, versus Bowling Green ... In addition, the 2024 MAC Freshman of the Year has three career 9.950s, two career 9.925s and seven career 9.900s on bars.

» SZYMANSKI ALSO ROCKS THE BEAM: Ashley Szymanski earned First Team All-MAC honors for the third straight season after leading the league with a beam NQS of 9.870 ... She earned the honor for bars in her first two seasons ... She has been a staple in Ball State's beam lineup over her career, including winning the event seven times so far this season ... In fact, in the dual at Western Michigan (Feb. 22), she tied the program's individual beam record with a score of 9.925 ... That was two meets after scoring 9.900 in the dual win over Eastern Michigan (Feb. 15) ... Szymanski has scored 9.750-or-better in 30 of her 35 collegiate beam routines and has eight career beam wins.

» MORE FROM THE BEAM: Also tying the program record on beam with a 9.925 at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) was junior Delaney McMahon who hit the mark for the second time in her collegiate career ... McMahon, who also scored 9.900 on beam vs. Eastern Michigan (Feb. 15), was named Second Team All-MAC after ranking second in the league with a beam NQS of 9.865 ... She has scored at least 9.725 in 11 of her 12 beam routines this season and in 16 of her 21 career beam routines ... McMahon has also competed on bars for the Cardinals this season, including scoring a career-high 9.800 in the Feb. 8 tri meet with Kent State and Illinois State.

» MOLINA MAKING NOISE: Ava Molina has been solid on the floor for the Cardinals this season earning First Team All-MAC accolades after ranking second in the MAC with a 9.870 NQS ... The effort included a pair of 9.900s, with the first earning her the event win versus Bowling Green (Jan. 18) ... She hit the mark again to win floor at the SEMO Quad (Feb. 1), giving her three career marks of 9.900 ... Her first career 9.900 came when she won the bars competition as a freshman at Eastern Michigan (March 17, 2024) ... Overall, Molina has made a big impact for the Cardinals over the past three seasons, scoring 9.725-or-higher in 51 of her 71 competitive routines between floor, bars and beam.

» MAKING THE MOST OF HER SENIOR SEASON: Mary Rose Bellan has been making the most of her senior season, highlighted by winning the MAC individual bars title with her 9.900 at the MAC Championships (March 21) ... The effort gave Ball State the last three MAC bars champions, with Ashley Szymanski capturing the 2024 and 2025 titles ... Bellan made her collegiate debut on bars last season and has competed in the event in each of the Cardinals' last 24 meets ... She recorded her first career 9.900 to win the bars competition at the Maryland Quad (March 7) ... She has three bars wins this season and four over her career ... Over 12 meets in 2026 Bellan has turned in 11 countable scores on bars, including a 9.875 to lead the squad at the Mizzou Quad (Feb. 20) and a 9.800 to win the event at Western Michigan (Feb. 22) ... In addition to her contributions on bars, Bellan has broken into the vault lineup this season, competing in 10 of the 12 meets ... Her best vault came at WMU when she scored a career-high 9.800, a mark she later tied when she tied for 12th at the MAC Championships.

» HITTING THE MARKS: Ball State has scored 9.800-or-better in 115 routines so far this season, including 19 scores of at least 9.900 ... The Cardinals have had 33 beam routines hit at least a 9.800, while adding 31 on floor, 26 on bars and 25 on vault ... Last season, the Cardinals produced 101 scores of 9.800-or-better with 11 scores of at least 9.900.

» RECORDS UNDER SALEEM:
- Ball State has tallied the 46 best team scores in program history under head coach Joanna Saleem … In fact, of Ball State's 50 scores of 195.450-or-higher, 48 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 51 team entries in the vault record book are held by Saleem's teams, as are 38 of 46 scores on bars, 33 of 38 scores on beam and 32 of 38 scores on floor.
- Her gymnasts own or have tied the individual program marks on vault (10.0), bars (10.0), beam (9.925), floor (9.950) and all-around (39.750).