Five Cardinals competed as individuals Thursday, April 4 at the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Championship in Ann Arbor Michigan.
The one individual who moves forward to nationals from each event or on the all-around must place high enough and not be on one of the four teams to qualify for nationals, since those gymnasts will already be competing. None of the Cardinals placed in the top five, and the competitors ahead of each gymnast were from a variety of schools.
This means it is most likely the end of the season for Ball State. Despite this, the Cardinals performed well and ended the season strong.
Freshman Ashley Szymanski had the highest score of the Ball State gymnasts. Szymanski, who performed on bars, tied for seventh place out of 53 participants. In her routine, she earned 9.900 points, tying with four other gymnasts for the spot.
Szymanski has been a standout individual in her debut season. Earlier in the season, Szymanski earned her career-best of 9.975 points against Bowling Green State University, . This was the third-best individual bars score in program history.
Graduate student Megan Teter and sophomore Zoe Middleton also competed on bars. Middleton earned 9.850 points to tie with 14 other gymnasts at No. 14. Teter placed just behind her at No. 29 with 9.825 points.
Three Cardinals performed on vault: senior Victoria Henry, senior Suki Pfister and Middleton.
Pfister had the best performance of the three, earning spot No. 27 with 9.825 points. Eight other gymnasts also received this score. Middleton was just behind at No. 36 with 9.800 points. Henry placed at No. 49 with 9.725 points.
Pfister and Middleton also competed on the floor. Pfister acquired the same score of 9.825 points, placing her at No. 34, along with eight other gymnasts. Middleton also had the same score as she did on vault: 9.800 points. She also tied with eight other competitors at No. 43.
Middleton was an all-around performer and the only Cardinal to compete on the beam. For beam, she scored 9.575 points at No. 49. She ended up at No. 15 in the all-around with 39.025 total points.
Contact Lila Fierek with comments at lkfierek@bsu.edu.
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