The NC State gymnastics team posted strong scores across the board and debuted fresh faces for a solid win over Pitt in its first meet of the season. With a final score of 194.925 to Pitt’s 192.800, the night was defined by impressive performances from the team’s newcomers and veterans alike.
Freshman Carina Jordan started off the first rotation for the Wolfpack with a strong vault performance, debuting her collegiate career with a 9.725. NC State slowly pulled ahead of Pitt as sophomores Chloe Negrete and Emily Shepard swept the top two performances with a 9.825 and 9.800, respectively. Despite some sticky landings, the Wolfpack ended the first rotation with a strong 48.450 on the vault, over a half point ahead of Pitt’s 47.750 performance on the uneven bars.
Given that the vault performance can be one of the Wolfpack’s weakest links, the team had nowhere to go but up. Junior Meredith Robinson shined on bars, tying her career-high score with a 9.875 and landing herself in a three-way tie for first. No NC State gymnast scored below 9.700 in the uneven bars, contributing to the Pack’s definitive lead over the Panthers with an score of 49.025 in what turned out to be its best rotation of the meet.
With a lead of a little over a point heading into the balance beam, NC State saw its strongest performance from senior Kasey Nelson and Shepard, both of whom tied for third with an impressive 9.800. Shepard, who made the All-EAGL first team for bars in 2020 as a freshman, hit a career high with her performance. Senior Nicole Webb took a slight tumble off the beam but quickly hopped back up to finish her routine, bringing the Wolfpack to a strong score of 48.550 in beam and a substantial lead over Pitt at the end of the third rotation.
The Wolfpack showcased its floor routines to end the meet, slowly pulling farther and farther away from the competition as the night came to a close. Shepard, senior Katie Cox and Negrete finished out the meet with a podium sweep, bringing clean, tight routines to the floor that packed a punch and wowed the judges. Jordan finished her first collegiate meet with a solid all-around score of 38.750. The real star of the show, however, was Shepard— despite her abbreviated freshman season, it was clear that the talent she possessed then is as strong as ever, as she posted a career-high 39.225 all-around score.
NC State will return to competition on Jan. 22, facing off against fellow EAGL competitors Towson and Temple in Towson, Maryland.
