No. 23 Wolfpack gymnastics had a tough outing on Friday night in Maryland in its first quad-meet of the season — falling to Pitt, Temple and Towson.
The Wolfpack (4-6) accumulated three losses in one night with a season low score of 194.775 after a disastrous opening rotation. Towson (11-2) finished with a meet high 196.425, followed by a 195.300 from Temple (11-13) and a 195.275 from Pitt (9-9).
NC State was the favorite going into the meet, but all momentum was lost after the Pack had three separate gymnasts fall off of the uneven bars during their respective routines to start the night. NC State finished with a season-low 47.450 for the event, which was a deflating start for the team. Despite the poor performance, all gymnasts appeared to come away unscathed after some scary falls.
The Wolfpack continued its night on beam, recording a 48.850 — the second lowest score from the second rotation. Outside of seniors Chloe Negrete and Alexis Ortega, the red-and-white didn’t have any standout performances up to this point. Negrete scored a 9.850 and not far behind was Ortega with a 9.800 to pace the Pack.
NC State was dead-last halfway through the competition, tallying a total score of 96.300 with the floor routine and vault left on the schedule. The Wolfpack continued to do well with the floor exercise just as it has all season — Negrete, a superstar for NC State, scored a 9.925 leading all gymnasts who competed. Sophomore Lauren Rutherford had a 9.900, the second highest score of the event, followed by Shepard and junior Krista Zultevicz both scoring a 9.875 to tie for third-best.
NC State wasn’t able to complete the comeback closing out the night on vault with a 49.100. Shepard tied Towson gymnast Polina Belanovski for a meet-best score of 9.900, but outside of Negrete’s 9.875 there wasn’t much else to push the Pack past any of its opponents. The big three of Shepard, Negrete and Ortega gave it their best, with Shepard and Ortega being the only NC State gymnasts to compete in all four events and two-thirds of all gymnasts to qualify for an all-around score.
NC State had several outstanding individual performances that were overshadowed by a series of unfortunate events in the first half of the meet, and will look to rest and regroup after its worst statistical performance of the year thus far.
The red-and-white will return to Reynolds Coliseum Friday, Feb. 17 at 7 p.m. to face New Hampshire before taking a trip to Philadelphia to find redemption in another quad-meet.
