Grantham Ready for Another Season in Reynolds Coliseum

RALEIGH -- NC State junior gymnast Drew Grantham has been around Wolfpack gymnastics as long as she can remember.

"I was always around it. I didn't know it was influential on me. I started coming to the NC State gymnastics camps when I was seven years old. It was 20 minutes down the road, and it was a fun gymnastics camp my parents could take me to and I could go overnight for a couple days. That turned into me going every summer."

A native of Durham, N.C., Grantham has been no stranger to Reynolds Coliseum over the years. Growing up, she attended many events in the arena as the Wolfpack played host to gymnastics meets.

"Reynolds Coliseum was huge and the Hall of Fame is where the bleachers were back in the day. It was such a different vibe. Once I actually did compete here for the first time, it was a completely different experience than what I expected because it was not the exact same as I grew up watching. Some of my fondest memories were rushing to watch the meets after practice with all of my teammates. My club team would even do the little gymnastics performance at the end of the meets."

When it came time to make a decision on where she would continue her academic and athletic career, NC State was the natural choice for Grantham, who is now a two-time All-EAGL Scholastic Team honoree.

"It's always been something I was around. When I started going on visits, this was a place that felt natural for me. I never felt like I didn't know the campus. It was just something that automatically felt like home for me."

Being close to home, Grantham has her own cheering crowd in Reynolds Coliseum.

"It's the best feeling ever. When I came in my freshman year to our first meet, I had a great home crowd. My home gym is only 20 minutes away, so that was awesome for them to come and support the Wolfpack, especially because my coach (Monica Ward, formerly known as Monica Berry) is a NC State gymnastics alumna. That's really cool to have her close to here. I now have one of my old teammates (Kailin Foland) on the team as well. That's really exciting."

"My club coach tries to come to every home meet. I give her our schedule once it's released and they try to schedule meets around it so the team can come watch us. It's really encouraging to have that support."

When asked about goals she has individually, Grantham emphasizes she places much more value on the goals of the 2019 Wolfpack gymnastics squad as a whole.

"Personal goals sit in the back of my head. The first thing that comes to mind is our team goals. A big team goal that we have would be to be EAGL Champions. We strive for that every day. Another goal we have is to finish as a top-16 team."

Earning six All-EAGL honors in her first two seasons with the Pack, Grantham is not satisfied and strives to improve as she heads into her junior campaign.

What she worked on this offseason: "The nitty gritty details. We have end-of-year meetings with our coaching staff and something we talked about was what can get my gymnastics to the next level: pointing my feet and keeping my feet together on a vault. The things that I worked on the most were the details."

Last year, she was named to All-EAGL First Team in vault and all-around and also was named to All-EAGL Second Team in beam and floor. She has competed in every meet of her young Wolfpack career.

"Personally, I just want to be ready when the team needs me. I train all-around and I competed all-around almost every meet last season, and also did so my freshman year. I want to try to push my gymnastics farther in every event and enjoy the process."

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North Carolina State University Athletics

Grantham Ready for Another Season in Reynolds Coliseum

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