NC State gymnastics traveled up to Pittsburgh to take on the Panthers in its final ACC meet until the ACC Championships at the end of March.
Defeating the Panthers (3-7, 1-5) 196.850-195.200, the Pack (6-4, 6-0) finished its undefeated conference record and further cemented the ACC Title the group won on Saturday, Feb. 17.
The final score of 196.850 was the red-and-white’s best on the road and the second-highest of the season behind a 197.575 showing against Clemson a week before. Graduate student Emily Shepard was the only member of the Pack to compete in the all-around, and she claimed her fifth all-around title of the season so far.
NC State was stationed at the bars first, with multiple athletes finishing in the top three in the event. Shepard took first place with a routine that earned her a 9.950, just a few points shy of her career best of 9.975 which she set against Clemson. This result is Shepard seventh-straight bar score 9.900 or higher. Graduate student Alexis Ortega finished second in the event with a score of 9.875, and fellow members of the Pack, sophomore Madeline Reid and freshman Katie Harper, were in a four-way tie for third place after scoring 9.850. The Pack did not score lower than 9.775 throughout the bars rotation.
Up next the team took to the vault, with freshman Ashley Knight coming up big for the Pack. Scoring a 9.875, Knight took the first-place finish and helped elevate the pack to have four 9.8 or higher scores on vault. Shepard, graduate student Chloe Negrete and sophomore Krista Zultevicz all landed on the podium with scores of 9.850, 9.825 and 9.825, respectively. Ortega rounded out the rotation for the Wolfpack with a 9.775.
The Pack moved onto the floor event with a dominant showing: Every member competing for NC State in this event scored over 9.800. Shepard and Negrete both tallied scores of 9.875 and tied for second place. Zultevicz and Knight also took to the mat and recorded a 9.825 and 9.800, respectively, and sophomore Katya Edwards rounded out the event by tying her career-best score of 9.850.
The final rotation saw the Pack take on the beam and pushed the team over the Panthers. Negrete scored a 9.900 and furthered her tally of first-place, 9.900 or higher scores this season to nine. Harper also got on the podium with a score of 9.875, which was a new personal best on the event. Shepard and Ortega finished with 9.825 and 9.800, respectively, and sophomore Meg Adler finished the Pack’s rotation with a 9.775.
With a perfect ACC record, the Wolfpack swiftly asserted its dominance in the conference’s inaugural season. The ACC Championship is on Saturday, March 23, but there is plenty of gymnastics until then. The Pack will have four-straight quad meets, with the first in Raleigh and taking on Iowa State, Northern Illinois and Temple on Saturday, March 2, at 4 p.m.
