NC State gymnastics broke the 196 mark Saturday night at Reynolds Coliseum, scoring 196.250 against UNC-Chapel Hill’s 193.375 in its only dual meet against its nearby rival.
The No. 34 Wolfpack (3-3, 2-1 EAGL) may have faltered early in the night on the vault but quickly and gracefully collected themselves to have one of its best nights. The Pack was able to outscore the No. 39 Tar Heels (4-2, 2-1 EAGL) during its second scheduled meet of the four planned this season.
“I thought it was a really great performance tonight,” said head coach Kim Landrus. “It wasn’t as if everything went perfectly as planned but they didn’t let it phase them. And Lauren [Kent], she didn’t have the vault she expected and she just went lights out on the other three events. It just showed that grit and that perseverance.”
The vault was a rough start to the Wolfpack’s night. Junior Katie Cox scored a 9.700 for her first time on the vault this season. Following Cox, junior Lauren Kent faced some trouble and failed to land after her jump, resulting in Kent’s lowest score this season, 8.875.
The Pack salvaged the event with freshman Emily Shepard leading the Pack with a score of 9.825 and senior Alexis Beucler earning a personal best of 9.800. Shepard placed third on the podium. The Pack finished the vault with a collected score of 48.750.
“We told each other that if we ever had a mess-up then we had to pick the team up together and we were going to row the boat so that if one person dropped, ignore that, the rest will pick it up,” Shepard said.
Despite the trouble, the Wolfpack soon found itself dominating the other three events both as a team and individually, putting the first event in the past.
Moving onto the bars, NC State was able to score a season-high team score of 49.075. Shepard and Cox tied their personal scores. Shepard with 9.825 and Cox with 9.800. Yet, it was Kent who shined on the bars with a strong 9.900, leading the Pack and improving her own personal best score. Following Kent in first place, sophomore Meredith Robinson and Cox tied for second place on the podium. Shepard finished in fourth place.
The floor event held similar success. A new team score of 49.300 was achievable from the accomplishments of all six participants who either tied their best scores or set a new career high. Senior Drew Grantham and freshman Chloe Negrete tied their scores from previous meets, 9.875 and 9.850, respectively. Junior Kasey Nelson and Beucler raised their season-highs, both scoring 9.850. Kent pushed forward for a career high of 9.800. Along with a new career high of 9.875, Shepard led the Pack in the floor event with teammate Grantham to tie for first place. Nelson, Negrete and Beucler along with the Tar Heels freshman Elizabeth Culton tied for third place.
The beam was equally a highlighted event for the Pack tonight. Five gymnasts of the Pack scored season-highs. Kent proved to be unstoppable with a final score of 9.850. Along with Kent, Beucler and Negrete also scored 9.850, all three tying for first place. Nelson and sophomore Kailin Foland also found themselves with career highs, 9.800 and 9.725, respectively. The team earned a combined score of 49.125 for a season record.
All-arounders Grantham and Kent fell to North Carolina’s Culton. Kent finished in second place with a total score of 38.425. A slight margin between Kent and Culton’s first place score of 38.750.
“Before Pitt, I want to work on the little landings and just keep getting the details so that we can bring that score up,” Shepard said. “I feel like we have lots of room for improvement in the little details.”
Landrus echoed Shepard’s statement.
“We can’t let up,” Landrus said. “It’s all the little details and the girls have been focusing so well on the little details and they have to continue to do that and they know that.”
The Wolfpack goes on the road this week for a dual meet with EAGL Pittsburgh this Saturday Feb. 8 at 2 p.m.
