RUTGERS MEET PREVIEW
The Scarlet Knights are set for their third of five-straight Big Ten duals leading up to the Big Five meet on Feb. 23. The team previously competed at the Livingston Gym versus Nebraska and traveled to Iowa. In the road competition at Iowa, RU finished best on vault for the third time in four meets to start the season. Rutgers ended with a 191.625 in the tightly-scored competition.
Junior
Kaitlyn Hall picked up her second vault win of the season by running to a 9.750 last time out. She has scored as high as 9.800 on the event. Sophomore
Belle Huang owns three first-place finishes through four weeks, taking a title on floor exercise, vault and in the all-around. In addition, senior
Riahanah Ali matched Huang with a 9.925 on floor exercise versus Nebraska for the highest numbers on any event by a Scarlet Knight in 2019.
The vault lineup leads the team with a 48.556 average so far, while floor exercise owns the highest meet mark at 49.300.
Huang has competed all-around in each of the first four meets, posting as high as 38.725. Senior
Michelle Amoresano has completed the circuit the last three weeks and totaled a career-high 39.025 on Jan. 19.
With Saturday being a dual meet, action will alternate between events with one routine on display. RU will begin on vault before moving to uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Maryland will move in the order of uneven bars, vault, floor exercise and balance beam. The Terrapins last visited New Jersey for the 2017 Big Ten Championships held at the RAC, also traveling to the Livingston Gym earlier that season.
COACH SALIM-BEASLEY Q&A
On lessons learned at Iowa: "I think that we've always been preparing for the fact that we can't control what the judges do and we can only control our performances. I think they were really pleased with the gymnastics that they put out there. Of course, they were disappointed that the scores didn't reflect that, but I think that they stayed strong and they didn't let the low scoring affect their performance throughout the meet. They just did what they needed to do and came away feeling really proud of what they were able to show."
On the team's progression: "I've just seen a lot of growth with their mental toughness when it comes to competing. Just seeing how we were in Cancun and knowing that we needed to make adjustments from that point, we were really able to get them on board with focusing in on mental imagery and meet preparation and really just choreographing every moment from the time that we step into an arena to the moment we leave has helped them to keep their focus and really not let any outside factors affect their ability to do their job."
On competing at the RAC: "They all love competing in the RAC because it's the big venue. And with us being home for the next two weeks, it really gives them an opportunity to be a little more rested and not have to have the drains of travel. We spent very long days traveling to and from Iowa with our flight delays, so it was definitely draining on them, but for them to be able to be at home really there's no stress of thinking about what the environment's going to be. They can sleep in their own beds, which is always nice, so they're just really excited to be able to get out again at home since the last time we were home was a really good showing. I think that they're looking forward to having the same this coming weekend and next weekend."
UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights will return to the RAC Saturday, Feb. 9 for a dual meet with Penn State at 7 p.m. It will broadcast live on BTN2Go and appear on BTN the following day.
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