After taking a 2.750-point drop from its season opener and falling out of the top 25 rankings, Ball State Gymnastics (4-2) looks to bounce back as it takes on North Carolina State and William & Mary in Raleigh.
“We’ve been focused on making sure we can come back out this weekend and learn from what we did on Sunday,” head coach Joanna Saleem said. “We had a less than expected performance on bars last weekend, but we went after that on balance beam and maintained a fairly decent composure and performed well.”
The Cardinals saw a point drop in three of four events last weekend with the steepest drop being on bars dropping 2.750 points. However, the team did see an increase on vault going up 0.275 points. According Saleem, while there were some good things that happened last weekend, the main cause of the team's deductions came from lack of focus.
“It was just a lack of focus last meet and everyone had that moment at the same time,” Saleem said “We’re looking at what we want to do, how to move forward and not dwelling too much on it. It was early in the season and we’re going to move forward with what we know we can do.”
One of the gymnasts who had an above average night was junior Kaitlyn Menzione as she lead the Cardinals on floor and Vault. According to Menzione, the secret to her success is not letting the pressure get to her.
“I just want to have fun out on the performance floor,” Menzione said. “My whole thing is just to enjoy the ride. I don’t want to overthink it, so I want to bring that same mindset into this weekend.”
The last time the Cardinals took the floor in Raleigh, they walked away with a first place finish and an upset over NC State, which was ranked No. 25 at the time. With the Cardinals looking for redemption from last weekend and the history they have had inside Reynolds Coliseum, they feel confidant going into this weekend's meet.
“I think it’ll be nice going into the same arena that we competed in last year and had success in,” Saleem said. “Other than that, the big thing is that the focus stays on us and doing the gymnastics that we have been doing for the past 18 weeks.”
While the team is looking for history to repeat itself, it is focused on not getting too caught up in what the other team is doing on the floor.
“We definitely want to two-peat against them and redeem ourselves, but we can’t think about the other team and what their scores are,” Menzoine said. “We want to do what we do in practice. It’s another day, another routine.”
The Cardinals will take the floor in Raleigh Saturday Jan. 20 at 4 p.m.
Contact Jack Williams with comments at jgwilliams@bsu.edu.
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