TOWSON, Md. - After celebrating the program's 50th Anniversary with an impressive showing last Sunday, the Towson University women's gymnastics team returns to action on Saturday when the Tigers travel to Big Ten foe Rutgers for a quad meet with Ursinus and Western Michigan at the Rutgers Athletic Center.

Towson will rotate on bars, beam, floor and vault.

Last week, the Tigers (6-10) took home first place in a tri-meet with Southern Connecticut State and Gustavus Adolphus with 195.450 points, the 10th-highest team score in program history. The score also included a school record 49.250 points on beam.

Towson won every event and had eight first-place finishes. Senior Gabriella Yarussi and junior Mary Elle Arduino each totaled two first-place finishes, highlighted by identical school records in the beam with a score of 9.950.

Western Michigan leads the four teams with an overall ranking at No. 44 with an total average score of 194.304. Towson is next at No. 47 (194.039) followed by No. 49 Rutgers (193.617) and No. 73 Ursinus (186.217). Western Michigan is the top-ranked team on vault (No. 41) and floor (No. 42) while the Tigers are the highest-ranked on bars (No. 44) and beam (No. 35).

Towson has already beaten Ursinus once this season, 194.275-187.425, at home on January 26 while Saturday will mark the first of three consecutive meetings with Rutgers who will be coming to SECU Arena next Friday, March 2 and to George Washington on Sunday, March 4. Tomorrow will also mark the first regular season meeting between the Towson and Western Michigan since Mar. 6, 2002

Senior Tyra McKellar and junior Cortni Baker are the team's top two gymnasts on vault and beam. McKellar has a regional qualifying score of 9.780 on vault and 9.635 on bars. while Baker boasts a 9.705 RQS on vault and a 9.555 on bars.

Yarussi is the team's top performer on beam with 9.780 RQS on beam, followed closely by Arduino at 9.720. McKellar and senior Lauren Cahalan are tied for third at 9.710.

Four Tigers are separated by just 0.07 points on floor, led by sophomore Melissa Temkov who has a regional qualifying score of 9.765. Baker is at 9.740, Cahalan is at 9.700 and senior Katie McGrady is at 9.695.