Ball State gymnastics had their first home meet for the Mid-American Conference (MAC) Jan. 26 in Worthen Arena against Western Michigan.

Western Michigan won the title for the 2024 MAC Gymnastics Championships with Ball State coming in second last season.

For their second home meet, Ball State placed first with a score of 195.550 followed by Western Michigan with 194.675. Wilberforce University also competed at the Jan. 26 Squishmallow-themed meet and came in third with an overall score of 173.100.

Ball State sophomore Ava Molina was named the meet’s most valuable player with 9.775 on uneven bar and 9.725 on beam and floor. Molina was also the leadoff for bar and beam and said it was the second time this season she was at the top of the lineup for bar.

“I think my personal highlight of the day was probably sticking my bar dismount,” Molina said. “I was just really happy to be able to stick it from the get go and to kind of get the ball rolling for the rest of the bar lineup.”

Graduate student and all-around Hannah Ruthberg was the highest scoring Cardinal at the last home meet but was pulled from the lineup hours before the Cardinals competed.

“During warmups, things didn’t go as planned, so we pulled her out to see what’s going on with that, just precautionary,” head coach Joanna Saleem said. “The team stepped up and were able to compete and showed that no one person ever wins by themselves.”

While Ruthberg didn’t compete, she was still there to cheer on her teammates from the sidelines. She often holds hands over the beam with sophomore Delaney McMahon before her routine, and despite not competing, they didn’t break that habit.

“She just kind of reminds me to take everything one thing at a time. She basically is like, ‘You’re super great, and there’s no reason to be nervous about anything” McMahon said. “It’s just nice to hear it right before I go up.”

Following her routine, McMahon put the Cardinals in the lead for beam with a 9.825, ultimately contributing to the overall score of 48.800 for the team’s third rotation.

The Cardinals tied with Western Michigan on floor with a 48.925 and came in first for bar with an overall score of 49.025. They came in second only for vault with a 48.800 for their first rotation’s event, just following Broncos 48.850.

Senior Grace Sumner scored a 9.525 on floor, the first time she’s competed the event since her sophomore year. The routine was a highlight of her night due to her being able to showcase the music, since it’s a mashup of her past floor routine songs.

“It was just so great. My team had my back, and they were all just excited for me, and the whole crowd was excited,” she said. “Whenever I finished, everyone was so excited, and it almost made me cry.”

Junior Zoe Middleton had the highest scoring floor routine with 9.850 and took home the all-around title with a personal overall score of 38.925.

“It was super exciting to see all of the energy, and we really were happy,” Saleem said. “I love how the team was interacting with the crowd and the crowd was interacting with them, so shout out to the community for coming and supporting us.”

Contact Ella Howell via email at ella.howell@bsu.edu. Contact Hannah Amos via email at hannah.amos@bsu.edu or on X @Hannah_Amos_394.

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