After placing second in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League Championships this weekend, the gymnastics team will have until April 12 to prepare for the NCAA Southeast Regional meet in Gainesville, Fla. West Virginia denied State last year’s EAGL Champion, its second consecutive despite the No. 21 Wolfpack’s second best score of the year.
“Obviously we’re upset with how things turned out last weekend,” senior Heather Zolton said. “But I think it’s a good thing because [it] pushes us to work harder for next weekend.”
The Southeast Regional field will consist of No. 3 Florida, No. 9 UCLA, No. 15 Nebraska and North Carolina, though the team’s focus will likely shift from the unranked Tar Heels onto the meet’s other familiar participant, No. 25 West Virginia, Zolton said.
“We really want to go back and beat them this time,” Zolton said. “I think that helps us out and puts a little more edge on us this time [to compete against them again].”
While avenging the EAGL Championship loss would heal some wounds, the team is confident that this season could end with a trip to Nationals.
“I think we have the best chance to make it to Nationals, more than any other year I’ve been here,” said Zolton. “We’re more prepared this year.”
Having nearly two weeks off between meets should give the team lots of time to practice and Coach Mark Stevenson isn’t worried about the team getting rusty after a meet-less weekend.
“The bottom line is we don’t really have two weeks off because we continue working out every day for three and a half hours,” Stevenson, who was voted EAGL Coach of the Year for the third straight year, said. “It’s definitely the best chance we’ve had [to go to Nationals].”
The break is welcomed by the gymnasts, according to senior Leigha Hancock.
“We’ve been hanging out as a team a lot and doing stuff other than gymnastics and it’s nice because we can get the team unity back before our biggest meet of the year,” Hancock, who won the Regional floor title in 2006, said. “We’re using this week to work hard so we can take the weekend off and rest and then be ready for the next week.”
The Pack will continue practicing this week, and may have an intra-squad scrimmage this Friday to help the gymnasts stay loose, though Zolton says postseason practices are all about details.
“At this point in the season, everyone’s hitting their routines pretty consistently but it’s the little things, hitting the handstands and sticking the dismounts, that really add up and could boost our score,” she said.
State will be shooting for a top-two finish in the Regional meet next weekend to be in the top twelve teams invited to NCAA Nationals in Georgia April 25 and 26.
