NC State’s gymnastics team was dealt its first East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) loss this past weekend against Pittsburgh in a quad meet. It was a tough loss in Denton, Texas Sunday because not only did State defeat Pittsburgh in its previous matchup with the Panthers, but the team also lost to Auburn, placing third of four teams.
The Pack had two quad meets in a row with contradicting results. After sweeping through the first quad meet, defeating all three opponents, two of them being conference matches, the team’s streak was halted this past weekend.
Overall, the Pack only managed to outscore Texas Woman’s University by 0.725. The Pack lost to second-place Pittsburgh by 0.175 and first-place Auburn by 0.575. A very close match where the slightest difference in points for individual events had a large impact on the placement of the teams.
In the Pack’s first match against Pittsburgh this year, NC State managed to win by more than one point. Pittsburgh improved its score this past weekend by almost three whole points, which was the large margin the Panthers needed to skim by the Pack’s top performance.
In particular, senior Chelsea Knight had a rough outing, only placing in one event. Her performance normally places her in multiple individual events and in the all-around scores. In the Pack’s first quad meet, Knight placed first in beams, tied for first on the floor and placed second all-around.
Only two of the Pack’s members received all-around scores. Sophomore Drew Grantham tied for second place with a score of 39.175. Junior Caitlyn Fillard placed fourth with a score of 39.050.
Similar to Knight, Grantham has been a reliable gymnast for the Wolfpack. Even in a tough meet, she pulled through and has managed to still reach second place in the past two meets. Grantham’s efforts have helped push the Pack forward.
The only individual first-place gymnast was Grantham, who tied for first on the floor with an impressive score of 9.900.
The most placements the Wolfpack had in an individual event was the vault. Fillard, Grantham, Knight and junior Alexa Phillips all placed on vault. Phillips placed third, Fillard placed fourth and both Grantham and Knight tied for fifth, scoring 9.825.
The vault was the only event the Pack won. Otherwise, the team placed third on the floors, beams and bars alike.
Auburn won the beam and tied with Pittsburgh on the bars. Texas Woman’s University only managed to win the floor competition while placing third in the vault and fourth in the bars and beam.
It’s still fairly early in the season, and the Wolfpack has six meets remaining; three of them are EAGL matches. With only one loss in the conference so far, the Pack still claims a winning season.
