The gymnastics team, setting season highs on bars and beam, scored a 194.350 to take first over North Carolina, George Washington, and William & Mary.
As the home team, the Pack started on vault where the team performed six routines to score a 48.975. Freshman Brooke Barr led the team on the event with a 9.875, good enough for first on the event. State then moved to bars where six more routines led to a 48.800 and a 97.775 overall score, allowing the team to increase its overall lead. Junior Taylor Seaman led the Pack with a 9.800, taking first on the event.
“We started off really well. We have always had a really strong vault team. Coming out on and staring on vault is good for us because it gets us going. Then we carried it over to bars really well,” sophomore Brittney Hardiman said. “Our bars has really come together, getting Lauren Deuser back was really helpful. It felt good, and we had a lot of momentum going.”
The Wolfpack then moved to the balance beam where two falls at the start did not prevent the team from posting a season high. After the second straight routine with a fall, coach Mark Stevenson pulled the team aside to clear their heads. After the meeting, freshman Anna Kronenfeld and Hardiman stepped up to lead the team, both scoring a 9.750. The 48.100 event score gave the team a 145.875 and kept it in first place overall.
“We just talked about what we were supposed to be doing on that event, how to focus and that it was a very good event for us if we do it, the event, the way we know how to do it,” Stevenson said. “We had already given away all that we could afford to give away, and it was time to do our job. And they did exactly what I asked them to do.”
The Pack ended the night on the floor where over-aggressiveness led to three out-of-bounds penalties and a fall. After a fall on the beam, Barr was able to recover and lead the team on the floor exercise with a 9.825, which was good enough for third on the night. The Pack had an overall 49.475 on the event locking them into first place on the night.
“We came to floor and I think we went a little too aggressive on some things – we ended up with a couple of out-of-bounds and just not the same quality of floor routines that we are used to doing,” Stevenson said. “It could have been they saw how much we were ahead, and it took the edge out also when they announced the scores after the third rotation.”
The Pack will head to Nebraska this weekend to face Nebraska, UCLA and Minnesota, all of whom entered this past weekend with a national ranking in the top-25. According to Hardiman, the Sweetheart Invitationa’s all-around champion, the team will be working on beam in practice. They will be attempting to replicate the stress of a meet so they can better deal with the stress at competitions.
“More beam, lots and lots of beam. Trying to create that pressure situation we get in at the meet, trying to recreate that feeling so that we won’t feel as nerve-racked when we come out here. We all cheer and yell random things, whatever you can come up with just to try and distract them a little bit.”
