Nearly a week after falling short against the No. 16 Auburn Tigers by less than one-tenth of a point in the Hearts Invitational, the N.C. State gymnastics team gets another shot against a top-ranked SEC team.
The event will take place Sunday at 4 p.m. against the No. 5 Florida Gators and William & Mary.
However, due to a women’s basketball game scheduled to take place at Reynolds Coliseum on the same day, the gymnastics team will hold the event at the RBC Center.
“The only time we could have a meet with Florida was on that Sunday,” coach Mark Stevenson said. “They are ranked fifth in the country, and we didn’t want to lose that because there was a women’s basketball game on the same day.”
Last season, the Wolfpack finished in sixth place at the NCAA Regionals, while the Gators took first place.
Kelsey Lee, a sophomore who competes on the floor and bars, said she is excited about getting another chance against the Gators.
“I am pumped,” Lee said. “I’m ready to compete against them. They think we can’t beat them, but we have a chance. We went against them last year in the regional, but if we are consistent, we can be right up there with them.”
Stevenson said competing against Florida helps the team in the long run because they get to see the type of gymnasts they will be competing against during the end of the season.
“It’s great being able to go against Florida,” Stevenson said. “We went against Auburn last week and almost won. This is great for us to be able to see teams like this because it can only make us better.”
In the Pack’s last outing, they finished with a score of just more than 193. It was their highest total of the season, and the score helped continue their streak of improving their score in each match.
With the scores continuing to increase, Katie Ozburn said it helps to have the majority of the team healthy and able to participate in the events.
“We started really rocky,” Ozburn said. “But we are slowly getting better. I was very proud of what we did last week. Everyone is starting to get healed, but injuries are going to happen in this sport. But I know we can be really good with everyone healthy.”
Stevenson said while injuries have held the team back, they have the potential to be a top program, especially when everyone is healthy.
“We’ve been a little shorthanded this season,” Stevenson said. “We have had a lot of people out so far — but we are starting to get everyone back now. Last week we had the majority of our team, and we almost beat Auburn. At the end of the season, I could see us being top 20.”
