North Carolina State University Athletics
Gymnastics Travels to No. 12 Nebraska
2/21/2009 12:00:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
Wolfpack Travels to #12 Nebraska
NC State gymnastics will head to Lincoln, Neb. for a quad meet on Sunday, Feb. 21. Host No. 12 Nebraska, No. 3 UCLA and Minnesota will provide stiff competition at the meet.
NC State is 0-3 on the road this season and 0-2 in neutral sites. The team is an impressive 8-1 at home, however.
The Pack is 2-0 all-time against Minnesota, but hasn't topped the Cornhuskers in six attempts and is 0-1 against UCLA. Nebraska, UCLA and NC State all last met at the NCAA Regional last year. The Pack and Minnesota last met in 2003 in Raleigh.
Hot Streak
NC State has won its last seven head-to-head matchups after starting the season 1-6. Things turned around score wise even before the head-to-head wins, however.
In the first three meets of the season, NC State averaged less than a 192 team score, but over the last four the average is up over 194.
Taylor Seaman Stepping Up
Junior Taylor Seaman has been very successful in her career, earning five first or second-team All-EAGL honors in her career and ranking 15th nationally on the floor in 2008.
In 2009, Seaman is having her best season to date, as she has stepped into the top spot on the team and has recorded the top score on all four events and the all-around.
Her top scores are a 9.925 on vault, 9.825 on bars, 9.825 on beam, 9.925 on floor and 39.375 in the all-around.
Seaman is a two-time EAGL Gymnast of the Week this season, giving her her three for her career. She was also a four-time EAGL Rookie of the Week in 2007.
Brooke Barr Impressive in Debut Season
Freshman Brooke Barr is one of four freshmen that have competed in each meet in 2009, and she is arguably the top freshman in the conference.
Barr has been named EAGL Rookie of the Week three times this season, and leads the team in NCAA Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) in vault and beam, while ranking second on floor.
Barr has also posted the second highest score on vault (9.900) and floor (9.875) and is third on beam (9.800).
Mark Stevenson IS Wolfpack Gymnastics
The only coach NC State has ever had, Mark Stevenson is in his 29th year at the helm of the Wolfpack Gymnastics squad. Stevenson has racked up 431 wins and been named NCAA Regional Coach of the Year and EAGL Coach of the Year four times each.
Freshmen Producing
Six of the 14 athletes that have competed for NC State this year are true freshmen. Four of those freshmen - Brooke Barr, Anna Kronenfeld, Becca Teich and Jackie Yanchocik - have competed in at least one event in each of the first seven meets this season.
A fifth freshman, Jess Panza, missed a pair of meets with an ankle injury, but earned EAGL Rookie of the Week honors after winning vault and beam in her collegiate debut.
Barr has won three EAGL Rookie of the Week awards and her success this season is outlined in a note above.
Kronenfeld has competed on beam in every meet for the Pack and led the team at the Sweetheart Invite with a 9.750, good for fourth at the meet. She also competed in the first four meets on bars before an arm injury limited her.
Teich has competed on vault in every meet and has scored a 9.7 or higher in the last five meets, including a season-high 9.8 at Pittsburgh. She ranks fourth on the team in RQS for vault. She also posted a 9.700 on bars at Pittsburgh and has competed on floor twice.
Yanchocik is a bars specialist and is fourth on the team in RQS for the event. She has been consistently posting a 9.625 or higher in five of the seven meets this season with a high of 9.7, twice.
Brittney Hardiman Rebounding
Brittney Hardiman got her "sophomore slump" out of the way in the first three meets this season, before posting the strong scores lately that she showed during her EAGL Rookie of the Year season in 2008.
Hardiman averaged a 37.717 in the all-around over the first three meets, but has averaged a 39.044 in the last four. She has won the all-around in two of the last three meets, at Pittsburgh and at the Sweetheart Invite. She has also finished third in the all-around in three meets this season.
Vault Scores Climbing Record Books
NC State's vault scores have been one of the strong points this season, as the team has won vault in four meets. In addition, the 2009 team now ranks second and fourth with the highest vault team totals in school history.
At the Governor's Cup, NC State posted a 49.250, tied for the second-highest score in school history. The previous week, the Wolfpack scored a 49.225 at Pittsburgh, fourth all-time.
Team Winning Events
NC State has only placed first at three of its seven meets this season, but the team has found success in winning team event titles even in defeat.
Out of the seven meets so far, the Wolfpack has won five floor titles, four vault titles, three bars titles and one beam title.
Against Pittsburgh, NC State lost the head-to-head total team score, but won three of the four events.
Tough Schedules
NC State gymnastics always competes against some of the top collegiate gymnastics teams, and 2009 is no different. So far this season the Pack has hosted No. 1 Georgia, the four-time defending NCAA Champion. The Wolfpack also travelled to then No. 8 Michigan and competed against No. 17 Denver at its meet in Maryland.
This week the Pack will travel to No. 12 Nebraska, and No. 3 UCLA will be in attendance. Minnesota, who was ranked No. 15 just last week, will also compete at this weekend's meet.
Later this season NC State will travel to No. 10 LSU.
