PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Rutgers gymnastics returned to the RAC for a Valentine's Day meeting with No. 24 Ohio State on Sunday. The Scarlet Knights registered a season-high on floor to close out the meet with a season-best total of 194.050.
RU collected three event titles and seven top three finishes, as sophomore
Hannah Joyner led the way with the all-around title and beam title. Junior
Kiera Doherty-Herwitz shared the beam title with Joyner, while senior
Belle Huang won floor with a career-high 9.925.
"We are showing improvement really from meet to meet, and we're able to focus on and fix some of the key details that we were looking at from previous weeks," said Head Coach
Umme Salim-Beasley. "Now we're just looking to find that time to put all of it together at once. There's a lot of potential in this team. It's just taking us some time to get jelled to feeling comfortable with competing for events consistently, but we're confident that we'll get there."
The Buckeyes claimed the win with a score of 195.950.
Senior
Belle Huang highlighted the lineup on vault with a tremendous stick for a team-high 9.800, finishing second in the meet. Sophomore
Hannah Joyner added in a 9.775 in the event to lead the lineup with Huang.
Moving to the second rotation, Joyner led the Scarlet Knights on bars with a 9.800 mark. Senior
Emily Drauss and
freshman
Avery Balser contributed identical scores of 9.725 in the event to round out the top performers.
Rutgers came alive on beam as four Scarlet Knights posted a 9.800 or higher. Freshman
Calah Newman led things off with a new personal best 9.800. Doherty-Herwitz kept things going with a 9.850. Joyner added in a 9.850 of her own, while Huang rounded out the top scorers with a 9.800.
Doherty-Herwitz and Joyner shared the beam title with their 9.850s.
The Scarlet Knights carried that momentum into the final rotation on floor. Huang produced a flawless performance, matching her career-high with a 9.925. Joyner registered a career-high of her own with a 9.900. Huang and Joyner finished first and second, respectively.
Newman recorded a personal best mark of 9.800, while classmate
Stephanie Zannella added a personal best as well with a 9.750. Fellow rookie Balser posted a 9.750 to push RU to a season-best mark on floor at 49.125.
Joyner claimed the all-around title with a 39.325, while Huang followed as the runner-up.
- Rutgers improved its overall team score for the fourth straight meet, posting a season-best of 194.050.
- RU produced its best team score on floor this season with a 49.125, as Huang and Joyner produced career-highs at 9.925 and 9.900, respectively
- A total of four Scarlet Knights recorded a 9.800 or higher on beam, marking the most to eclipse the 9.8 in a meet so far this year.
Rutgers travels to Minnesota on Saturday, Feb. 20 for a 6 p.m. ET meet, which will be televised live on ESPNU.
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