NC State gymnastics defeated UNC-Chapel Hill 195.200-194.650 for its second EAGL win on Friday night at Carmichael Arena.
The Wolfpack (5-1, 2-0 EAGL) had a rewarding night against its rivals, the Tar Heels (4-2, 1-1 EAGL) by taking first place along with nine podium placements. Although the Wolfpack had a better final score than the Tar Heels, the Pack didn’t shine until its third and fourth event, the floor and beam respectively. The Pack scored a new season high on the beams, 48.975, a slight 0.100 difference.
“Last week we had a bit of a rough beam rotation,” sophomore Nicole Webb said. ”So we really went into the gym this week with a tight mindset and just hit routine after routine and practiced pressure situations.”
Freshman Alliah Harrison agreed with the team’s improvement and emphasized the balance the Pack has between keeping up with team scores and not losing focus at the task at hand.
“What we do is that everybody tries to stay in their circle, our circle, our corral,” Harrison said. “And we stay focused on the task at hand. One thing at a time. One person at a time and just staying in our zone and not focusing on what’s around us and kind of assess.”
On the bars to start, the Wolfpack finished with a 48.825, 0.25 away from the Pack’s top score. Junior Melissa Brooker marked a career high on the bars with a finish of 9.775. Freshman Meredith Robinson also broke through with a career high of 9.800.
Robinson’s score secured her second place on the podium, following Rylie Dewhurst from UNC.
Brooker was one of six gymnasts tied for third place on the bars. Alongside her were teammates senior Maggie Tamburro and sophomore Lauren Kent who all scored a 9.775.
All-arounders senior Caitlyn Fillard managed a 9.700 while junior Drew Grantham faltered slightly and walked away with a 8.950.
The Tar Heels dominated the vaults, placing in the top three with a team score of 49.125. The Wolfpack followed with 48.675, a 0.125 difference from its season high of 48.800.
Grantham and senior Alexa Phillips managed to grab fourth and fifth respectively. Grantham finished with a solid score of 9.825 to tie her season high. Alexa Phillips had a 9.800 finish.
Sophomore Victoria Prati made her debut on the vault with a 9.650.
Grantham took second place in the floor event: a season high of 9.875 – while UNC took first and third in taking majority of the podium. Senior Paris Phillips also had a nice score of 9.800, tying for fifth place.
Finishing on the beams, the Pack hit its stride with Webb who hit a career high of 9.875 to win first place. Grantham tied for third place with 9.825, also tying her season high.
“It was so exciting; I couldn’t have done it without my teammates,” Webb said. “They were cheering me on the whole entire way. We’ve practiced so hard this week and this whole preseason so it was a really rewarding feeling for me.”
Fillard also tied her own season high of 9.800 while freshman Kailin Foland made her debut on the beams with a 9.600.
The Tar Heels did not have any all-arounder gymnasts leaving Fillard to take first, 38.900 and Grantham to follow in second place with a final score of 38.475.
“It was great. It felt great,” Harrison said. “Everybody built off of each one’s momentum. We just got better and better through and that’s really great. We still have room for improvement with landings and things but it was a good beam experience.”
The Wolfpack will continue on the road against LSU next Friday at 8:10 p.m.
