NC State gymnastics donned pink and dominated in its second quad meet of the season Saturday evening. The Wolfpack recorded impressive scores in all four events, posting a 197.000 to take down Iowa State, Northern Illinois and Temple.
With an ACC regular season championship and an undefeated conference season under its belt, NC State has become the team to beat in ACC gymnastics.
“We are the hunted,” said graduate student Alexis Ortega. “We went from being the hunters to hunted, and I think that’s really, really big for us. We’re honored to be in that position, but we do not take it for granted.”
Iowa State proved the Wolfpack’s fiercest competitor throughout the evening, finishing right behind NC State at 196.700. An energetic third rotation on floor exercise allowed the Cyclones to briefly pull into first before the Pack tumbled its way back to the top spot during its own showing on floor in the fourth rotation.
Northern Illinois and Temple finished third and fourth with team scores of 195.200 and 194.425, respectively.
Survivors of breast cancer, their families and loved ones who had lost someone to cancer stood to be recognized at the beginning of the competition.
“I think a lot of us on the team just appreciate competing for something bigger than us,” said graduate student Emily Shepard. “Even if we’re not directly impacted, I feel like everyone else knows someone that is, and so it’s just nice to do it.”
The uneven bars once again proved to be the Pack’s highest-scoring event, with a team total of 49.400. Clean lines and stuck landings earned Shepard and freshman Katie Harper a shared first place in the event, with both gymnasts scoring 9.950 — the highest score awarded throughout the night.
On the floor, Shepard and sophomore Katya Edwards finished in a three-way tie with Iowa State’s Kaia Parker, all with a score of 9.925. This routine marked Shepard’s 50th career 9.900 or higher score on floor exercise.
Senior Madison Benson closed out the meet with an exhibition floor routine, her first performance back from injury.
“I just had chills,” Ortega said. “Just seeing the behind the scenes of [Benson] working so hard from the moment the injury happened to right now. I think we all can feel for her and even just be with her on all those kind of milestones leading up to this moment.”
The meet marked the Pack’s first competition back in Reynolds Coliseum since earning the ACC regular season title in February and lighting the Memorial Belltower red. This was the first time since March 2018 the Belltower has been red for Pack gymnastics.
“It’s pretty special,” said head coach Kim Landrus. “We’ve been chasing that, so it was pretty special for sure in my career.”
Despite the Pack’s win streak, Landrus has the Pack practicing as usual, keeping its eyes on clean gymnastics and constant improvement.
“We went and lit the Belltower and really let them embrace and enjoy that moment,” Landrus said. “… But we have bigger things that we want to accomplish. And so what is it going to take to do that? And then we kept up with the normal after that.”
The Wolfpack will hit the road to take on Temple, Maryland and Penn in Philadelphia on March 7 at 1 p.m, before returning for its final home meet of the season ahead of the ACC Championships.
