PISCATAWAY, N.J. –  Rutgers gymnastics hosted Maryland for the second consecutive weekend at the RAC on Saturday afternoon. The Scarlet Knights improved their overall team score from a week ago to 192.750, as senior Belle Huang led the team with a second-place finish in three events, including beam, floor and all-around. Sophomore Hannah Joyner joined her with two second-place finishes of her own on vault and bars. 

"Today it was an improvement. We have a very young team and our freshmen are still trying to figure out how to compete in a collegiate setting and how to calm those nerves," said Umme Salim-Beasley. "When you're competing 13 of your 24 routines with freshmen, it takes some time. I'm just pleased that they're going out and competing aggressively. 

"We haven't had a whole lot of consistent training with a lot of people so that does hinder us somewhat. We just haven't had the time to build that consistency within routines. And when you get consistency, you get confidence. I think once they start seeing that their percentages of hit routines are going up, that will boost their confidence in what they're doing."
 

VAULT

Sophomore Hannah Joyner made her 2021 debut, anchoring vault for RU with a team-best 9.800 for second place in the event. Senior Belle Huang followed with a 9.725. The rest of the lineup included freshmen Stephanie Zanella, Avery Balser and Calah Newman in their second appearances for RU, as well as classmate Jaidyn Raby in her collegiate debut.
 

BARS

Joyner held strong with a 9.875 on bars for another second-place event finish. Senior Emily Drauss contributed a 9.725 with her performance the second rotation for RU. Freshman Myra Daniels made her collegiate debut in the event, while senior Belle Huang, Balser and Newman rounded out the lineup.
 

😎😎😎It's a stunning routine and stick for Hannah Joyner on bars, producing a 9.875 to pace the team in the event ‼️ pic.twitter.com/gTTntiZWEO

— Rutgers Gymnastics (@RUGymnastics) January 30, 2021

BEAM

Rutgers produced a strong outing on beam, as Huang led the way with a 9.800 for a second-place finish. Sophomore Jenna Ferguson added in a 9.775 for RU, while classmate Kiera Doherty-Herwitz and Zanella recorded identical marks of 9.725.
 

😍😍Belle Haung leads the beam queens this week with a 9.800 ‼️ pic.twitter.com/XDu2ptEQIN

— Rutgers Gymnastics (@RUGymnastics) January 30, 2021

 

FLOOR

Senior Belle Huang concluded the meet with a solid performance on floor, posting a second-place mark of 9.850 in the event. Joyner contributed a mark of 9.775 as the team produced a 48.625 in its top event of the day.
 

👏👏👏Belle Huang concludes the meet strong for RU with a 9.850 on floor‼️ pic.twitter.com/BTiUbdC2l0

— Rutgers Gymnastics (@RUGymnastics) January 30, 2021

 

ALL-AROUND

Three Scarlet Knights competed in all-around in Huang, Joyner and Newman. Huang led the the way for Rutgers, placing second in the meet with a 39.050.
 

KNIGHT NOTES

• Today's competition marked the Big Ten "United as One" meet for the Scarlet Knights. "United as One" is among several conference-wide Equality Coalition initiatives dedicated to constructively and collectively recognizing and eliminating racism and hate in our society by creating resources for inclusion, empowerment, and accountability.
• Jaidyn Raby made her debut as a Scarlet Knight, competing on vault.Classmates Stephanie Zannella, Avery Balser, Calah Newman, Myra Daniels and Emily Wood made their second straight appearances for RU.
• Hannah Joyner returned to the lineup for the first time in 2021, competing all-around and finishing second on bars (9.875) and vault (9.800) for RU. 

 

UP NEXT

Rutgers travels to Nebraska for its first road meet of the year on Sunday, Feb. 7. Start time is set for 5 p.m. ET in Lincoln.
 
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