Meet 12: Gymnastics at Cornell

Sunday, March 17

Ithaca, N.Y.

1:00 PM

Rutgers University

Cornell

Photo by: Mitch Leff/Rutgers Athletics

Mar 14 | Women's Gymnastics

Notes ESPN+Twitter Updates Season Statistics Fact Book

Scarlet Knights set for final tune-up before Big Ten Championships

RUTGERS at CORNELL
March 17, 2019 • 1 p.m. ET
Newman Arena • Ithaca, N.Y.

PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers gymnastics heads into New York Sunday for a 1 p.m. meet at Cornell. The dual will mark the final competition for the Scarlet Knights before the Big Ten Championships.

ESPN+ will stream the meet with a subscription and @RUGymnastics will tweet scores throughout.

RUTGERS MEET PREVIEW
The Scarlet Knights competed twice last weekend, starting with a 194.425 on Friday at the RAC. The final home meet of the season, the program recognized its four senior gymnasts – Riahanah Ali, Michelle Amoresano, Jenna Rizkalla and Eriel Santagado – and senior manager Allie Palmer. The score took first place in the quad meet. Led by a 9.850 from both Ali and Rizkalla, the vault lineup set a season high with a 48.950. Junior Shannon Farrell highlighted the night by scoring a 9.925 on uneven bars, the best mark on the event by a Scarlet Knight since 2003.

RU loaded up the bus and took the mat once again on Sunday at Kent State. Taking second in the quad meet, the Scarlet Knights recorded a 195.175 for their best road number of the season. Floor exercise posted a 49.100 to hit the 49-plateau for the fifth time in 2019, with sophomore Belle Huang earning a 9.900.

The Scarlet Knights have posted a 194 or better in each of the past seven outings and in eight of the last nine. The season high of 196.050 was set Feb. 9 and the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) is currently No. 45 at 194.695 with two meets remaining.

Huang has competed all-around in each meet this year and holds an RQS of 38.970, while Amoresano has completed the circuit 10-of-11 outings with a 38.920. Huang also paces the team with a 9.880 on floor exercise and a 9.800 on balance beam. Ali took over the vault lead at 9.770 and Farrell maintains the team-high on uneven bars at 9.835.

As a team, floor exercise is ranked No. 37 nationally with a 49.005 and vault is No. 38 at 48.810.

Rutgers last traveled to Cornell in 2014 and picked up a 195.825, the highest road score in program history. The Scarlet Knights will return to the dual format in the order of uneven bars, vault, floor exercise and balance beam.

Cornell will first compete at West Chester on Saturday before returning home to Newman Arena at Bartels Hall on Sunday. It will be the first regular season gymnastics meet at the facility.

COACH SALIM-BEASLEY Q&A
On last weekend: "I think I was just so impressed that we were able to go out two meets in a row and put up really good scores. Even more impressive was for them to come off the emotions and the high of the senior meet, to have to travel six hours on the bus and then compete again with daylight savings time. We knew that they were going to be tired and really just wanted them to be able to put all their energy into competing as best as they possibly could and then reminding them that they could sleep on the way home.

"To get a 195 on the road is not an easy task. Generally, home scoring is a little more generous, but it just really shows that this team is so determined. They really want to continue to improve even though it's the end of the season. They really know that there's so much more that they can do and that we can fix to be able to continue to raise our scores. I've never really coached a team that has been so determined and so focused that they want to continue to improve and they want to give their all. Usually, this time of season, you tend to find that teams are getting a little more laid back and their performance starts to dwindle. I don't see that in this team at all, they are still pushing to try to better their scores because they know that they can do more."

On source of motivation: "I think that they've just been disappointed with how the team has performed in the past, in previous years. I think that part of it comes from the motivation that we give them as coaches and the encouragement that we give them every day that they've really begun to understand. They've bought into us being behind them no matter what. That support, I think, is really driving them. It's nice to see that that has been taken in and is being translated into the performances that they give every weekend."

On the competing at Cornell: "It's another dual. We've had a lot of practice with dual meets. A little different environment than what we have been competing in the past few weekends, being in large arenas. Cornell does compete in a smaller arena, although I don't think that's going to affect them really, at all, because we've really pushed them to not focus on outside factors but to really just focus on their individual performance at that time. I think that they're really going to push hard to try to fix the little deductions that they know that they gave away this past weekend. I don't think that they were satisfied with the 195, they know that we left a lot out there and that it could have been a much bigger score than what we got. I think that that's really what they're trying to push for."

UP NEXT
The Scarlet Knights head to Penn State for the 2019 Big Ten Championships on March 23, competing in the noon session. Big Ten Network will broadcast both sessions of the 10-team 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).