Heading into her team’s last event, senior gymnast Amanda Jones knew she was on the verge of winning her first conference title in her time at N.C. State. Then, she and her team took care of business.

“We knew we just had to hit our bar routines solid, and we had it because we were already ahead going into it,” Jones said. “And every single one of us in the bar rotation nailed our routines.”

The gymnastics team reclaimed the East Atlantic Gymnastics League title for the first time since 2000 Friday at College Park, Md., with a score of 195.475. The Wolfpack beat out West Virginia, North Carolina and five other schools.

Junior Leigha Hancock won the league’s balance beam competition. Hancock, who won the beam event with a score of 9.9, was also the team’s top overall scorer with a combined 39.100 in four events — the third-best individual score of the event.

Coach Mark Stevenson, in his 27th season, earned the EAGL Coach of the Year honor for the second straight season and the third time overall.

Reflecting on the championship, Jones said confidence was an important factor in her team’s victory.

“This year we went in, and it was almost, before we even walked in, ‘OK, we’re going to do it this year,'” Jones said.

Fresh off the win, the team has almost two weeks to prepare for regional championships, which will be held April 14 at West Virginia.

Jones said a schedule stocked with plenty of top-10 teams this season served as a great preparation for the conference championships.

“Exposing us to that kind of competition early on in the season is helping us in the postseason because at conference, we were just like, ‘Oh, it’s just West Virginia [and] Carolina. They’re ranked below us, and we’ve competed against top-10 schools all year,'” Jones said. “So we weren’t intimidated at all.”

Jones said the team is peaking at the right time, and that momentum should help it in its regional performance.

“The last four meets we’ve scored well above a 195. We’re definitely at the highest point in our season, which is right now,” Jones said. “We are ending the season stronger than we even began.”

The team will have to finish in the top two at the regional competition to earn a trip to nationals, which take place April 26 – April 28 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Jones said doing well enough to advance to the national competition will be a tall order, but it is an attainable goal.

“Out of all four years that I’ve been here, the best chance we have is this year. It’s going to be very difficult. We’re going to have to nail our routines and probably have the best meet of our entire year,” Jones said. “But it’s not impossible, we definitely have a shot.”