Meet 8: Big Five Gymnastics at Elevate the Stage

Saturday, February 23

Toledo, Ohio / Huntington Center

7:00 PM

Rutgers University

Illinois/Michigan/Minnesota/Ohio State

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Photo by: Ben Solomon

Meet 8: Big Five Gymnastics at Elevate the Stage

Feb 20 | Women's Gymnastics

Notes FloGymnastics Video ($)Live Results Twitter Updates Elevate the Stage Tickets Season Statistics Fact Book

Scarlet Knights to compete on podium in Toledo, Ohio

RUTGERS at BIG FIVE MEET
February 23, 2019 • 7 p.m. ET
Huntington Center • Toledo, Ohio

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Wrapping up Big Ten regular season competition, Rutgers gymnastics heads to Elevate the Stage in Toledo, Ohio, for the Big Five meet on podium. The Scarlet Knights are in the 7 p.m. Saturday session at the Huntington Center and will rotate with Illinois, No. 8 Michigan, No. 14 Minnesota and No. 22 Ohio State.

Despite being earlier in the schedule than in the past, the Big Five meet still determines positioning for the Big Ten Championships. RU hosted a Big Five meet inside the RAC last March. The other meet this year will include Iowa, Maryland, Michigan State, Nebraska and Penn State Friday at 7 p.m. The top three scores from the Friday and Saturday meets will qualify for the 5 p.m. session of the Big Ten Championships set for March 23 at Penn State, while the remaining four teams will take part in the noon meet.

FloGymnastics will provide a live stream both days with a subscription. Live results will be available and @RUGymnastics will tweet scores throughout the meet.

RUTGERS MEET PREVIEW
The Scarlet Knights have scored better than 194 in four of the past five outings, including a season-high 196.050 to beat Penn State on Feb. 9 at the RAC. That mark was the second highest achieved in program history.

RU had its best road score of the season with a 194.100 last Saturday at Michigan State. The floor exercise lineup posted the best number (48.775), while vault (48.750) and uneven bars (48.600) followed closely behind. Senior Riahanah Ali highlighted the day with a 9.850 on floor exercise in her home state. Seniors Michelle Amoresano and Jenna Rizkalla both tied for first with a 9.775 vault as well.

Ali, Amoresano and sophomore Belle Huang all have competed the all-around the last two weeks. Huang has been in the lineup for all four events 17 career times with a best of 39.300 versus Penn State. Ali had a 39.000 in her all-around debut in that meet, with Amoresano peaking at 39.050 that week. Amoresano has completed the circuit the last six weeks after not doing so since the 2017 Big Ten Championships.

Ali owns the best Rutgers vault in 2019 with a 9.850 on Feb. 9. Junior Shannon Farrell has led the uneven bars lineup with 9.800 or better the last three times, reaching 9.900. Huang has posted 9.925 on both balance beam, which tied the school record, and floor exercise, a mark Ali earned on floor exercise as well.

Rutgers is set to take part in a podium meet for the third-straight year, being the first to host such an event in the conference at the 2017 Big Ten Championships. Illinois followed with a podium setup last year for the 2018 Big Ten Championships. The Scarlet Knights will begin on floor exercise Saturday before moving to vault, uneven bars and balance beam. The bye will be in the fifth rotation.

COACH SALIM-BEASLEY Q&A
On the current state of the team: "I think they're very motivated. They want to get back to where we scored at home against Penn State. They know that this meet is a really good opportunity to score high, it's at a neutral site, so there shouldn't be any home-crowd bias. I think that they really want to take this as an opportunity to be able to go out and get a big score so that can help our ranking."

On competing on podium: "There is some difference. We are going to be talking with them a lot this week about the differences of being on the podium, what to expect and not to panic. We want them to really trust in their gymnastics and what they're capable of doing, not letting podium affect them. We always end up going into competitions knowing that the environment is going to be different no matter where you go. Even when we're competing in the RAC, it's different than what we're doing in here in practice, so they are prepared for it to be different. The bounce of the equipment is a little different being on podium just because it's elevated, so we will be letting them know that so they know what to expect."

On team depth: "I think that last weekend at Michigan State really proved that we can have team members step up in a big way. We really were able to make the swap with Mia (Betancourt) being out and adding another person into her spot and really make up for her not being there. The one exception was beam. I think that we have the ability to match a score anywhere, but we have to make the routines."

UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights will head to New Hampshire on Saturday, March 2 at 7 p.m. Brown and NC State will also be in the quad meet.

Follow Rutgers Athletics on Facebook and Twitter (@RUAthletics) for all of the latest news and updates. For specific updates regarding women's gymnastics, follow the program on Twitter (@RUGymnastics), Facebook (/RUGymnastics), Instagram (@rutgersgymnastics) and Snapchat (rutgersgym).