In its first meet of the 2024 season, NC State gymnastics fell to No. 10 Georgia 196.200-194.225 in Athens, Georgia. With the inaugural season of ACC Gymnastics starting this week, the Pack will look to make the NCAA Tournament for the sixth season in a row, but there is still plenty of competition left.
With many returning gymnasts — including graduate students Emily Shepard, Chloe Negrete and Alexis Ortega — many have high expectations for the Wolfpack’s 2024 season. Shepard comes into this season off of winning back-to-back EAGL Gymnast of the Year awards. In the preseason poll, NC State was tied with UNC-Chapel Hill for the No.1 spot in the ACC.
Against the GymDogs, the Pack was outscored on bars, beam and floor routines, but NC State still turned in some impressive performances. Negrete took the individual titles on vault and beam with scores of 9.875 and 9.900, respectively. Shepard recorded a solo first-place finish on the floor (9.950). Freshman Maddie Hall made her collegiate debut during the meet, recording an impressive third place overall finish with an all around score of 38.375.
NC State started off at the uneven bars while Georgia took to the vault. Three members of the Pack took home scores of 9.800, with two of those scores coming from new faces to the program — Hall and freshman Katie Harper. Bars specialist sophomore Kailee Adomaites led the team with a 9.725 to help push the Wolfpack forward.
Next, the team moved to the vault, where the red-and-white posted its best score of the meet, 49.025. Shepard and Negrete once again took the lead on this event, scoring 9.850 and 9.875, respectively, while Hall shined with a 9.800. Negrete’s score was the best between either team and .025 away from her career best of 9.900 on vault.
The next rotation saw the Pack take on the floor, the most dramatic event of the day. Senior Krista Zultevicz took to her only event of the day and posted a 9.750 alongside Shepard’s first-place score of 9.850.
While the Wolfpack took its best score during the vault, its best individual score was executed on the beam by Negrete. With the first 9.900 on the season, Negrete scored the highest out of either team with her impressive routine. The final event brought the visiting team’s score to 194.225 but could not get past the formidable and nationally-ranked Bulldogs.
The Pack will travel to West Valley City, Utah for a quad meet with Brigham Young, Cal, and Michigan State. This meet will see a new member of the ACC gymnastics program in Cal, which is set to join the conference next year. The quad meet will be on Saturday, Jan. 13 and is set to begin at 9 p.m EST. The meet will be broadcast on ACCN, marking the first nationally televised NC State gymnastics meet this year, with three more being set on the channel throughout the season.
