The long break since March 2020 did nothing to slow down the NC State gymnastics team and after defeating Pitt with a solid performance to start the year, the Wolfpack followed it up with a 194.600-194.225- 193.600 photo-finish win over Towson and Temple. 

NC State started out of the gates hot with superb parallel bar routines. In fact, NC State had the three highest scores in the meet on the bars, as sophomore Emily Shepard, senior Katie Cox and junior Meredith Robinson all posted scores of 9.825 or higher, with Shepard and Cox recording career-high scores of 9.900 and 9.850, respectively. 

But while everything seemed to go right for NC State on the bars, the same couldn’t be said for the Pack on the beam. Towson grabbed the lead after the second rotation with NC State only having two gymnasts place in the top seven and only one had a score above 9.575. Senior Kasey Nelson kept NC State in the running with a 9.700, but it was lonely for her at the top of the beam leaderboard, surrounded by Temple and Towson gymnasts.

Floor exercise saw NC State start to claw back into contention a little bit. Nelson picked a good time to have a career high on the floor, scoring a 9.850 when her team needed it. Sophomore Chloe Negrete was the last member of the Pack to take the floor and she certainly saved the best for last, as she scored a 9.875 that was good enough for NC State to take the lead.

The Wolfpack’s vault routines weren’t much better than Towson’s or Temple’s, but they were just enough to win because of the effort of Negrete. Negrete’s 9.900 was the best vault score of the night and anchored NC State’s performance on the vault, sealing the win for the Pack.

The next time NC State gymnastics competes, it will be meeting familiar foes in Towson, who NC State just competed against, and Pitt, who NC State met earlier this season. The teams will meet in Pittsburgh and the tri-meet is set to take place on Jan. 31 at 4 p.m.