Gymnastics Finishes Regular Season at West Virginia
Mar 13 | Women's Gymnastics
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (March 13, 2013) - Rutgers gymnastics will head to West Virginia to take part in a tri-meet with Maryland Friday, March 15 at 7 p.m. inside the WVU Coliseum. It is the final regular season for the Scarlet Knights before competing in the EAGL Championships March 23.
RU enters the weekend with 194.685 Regional Qualifying Score (RQS), just .170 behind Iowa State for the final spot to NCAA Regionals. The top 36 teams will move on to NCAAs following conference championship competition.
"We are close, it is a matter of tenths of a point," head coach Louis Levine said about qualifying for NCAA Regionals. "We just have to keep doing what we have been doing the last couple weeks and we will be alright. It is about us focusing on getting better each time. We just have to keep hitting routine after routine from the first event to the last."
The Scarlet Knights posted their highest ever road score (195.550) last time out in a dual meet win at Towson. Junior Luisa Leal (Cali, Columbia) highlighted the meet with a school record 39.500 all-around score to earn EAGL Gymnast of the Week. She finished at least tied for first in the meet in every event, setting career-highs on both the floor exercise (9.950) and uneven bars (9.875). One of the judges gave Leal a perfect 10.000 mark for her floor routine.
The team scored best on the floor exercise (49.175), while setting the school record on vault (49.100) for the second straight week.
West Virginia enters the meet as No. 21 in the nation with a team RQS of 195.780. The Mountaineers are in the top 20 in two events, the vault (49.110) and the balance beam (48.950). Last weekend, the team posted its second best score of the season (195.450) to defeat George Washington. Head coach Jason Butts is in his second season at the helm of the program after previously serving as an assistant.
Maryland comes in at No. 26 in the nation, maintaining a team RQS of 195.580. The Terps are also in top 20 in two events, ranking No. 13 in the vault (49.210) and No. 20 on floor exercise (49.105). The team edged its season-high, with a 196.025 in a win over Central Michigan and Yale this past weekend. Brett Nelligan is in his 10th season as head coach.
RQS (3/11)
34 Pittsburgh 195.040
35 Bridgeport 194.895
36 Iowa State 194.855
37 Rutgers 194.685
38 Michigan State 194.585
39 George Washington 194.540
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