TOWSON, Md. – The Towson University gymnastics team continues its road swing in Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. this weekend. First, on Friday, March 5 the Tigers will compete in a tri-meet with Temple and George Washington. Then, on Sunday, March 7 they will compete in a dual meet at George Washington.
Friday's meet at Temple will take place inside of Pearson & McGonigle at 7 p.m. and Sunday's meet will take place the Charles E. Smith Center at 1 p.m.
Roll into Action
Friday's meet will be live streamed at:
http://sidearmstats.com/temple/gymnastics/
New Faces
The Tigers added seven newcomers to the mix this season. Towson will be introducing fans to
Mackenzie Butler,
Sarah Girot,
Simona Kerekes,
Amanda Pedicelli,
Cassidy Stuart,
Grace Vaillancourt and
Allison Zuhlke.
Returners
Towson brings back one competing senior (
Tess Zientek), two juniors (
Nikki Borkowski and
Emerson Hurst) and five sophomores (
Lauren Bolen,
Paige Casper,
Amy Stewart,
Camille Vitoff and
Jenna Weitz) to round out the roster this year.
Last Time Out
The Tigers saw running scores of 48.950 (vault), 49.125 (bars), 48.375 (beam) and 48.725 on floor to lead to an overall winning score of 195.175 in a quad meet against LIU, Pitt and UNH.
Amy Stewart led the way on floor finishing in first with a score of 9.875.
Lauren Bolen and
Camille Vitoff both scored a 9.825 tying for first place on vault.
Tess Zientek finished with a season-high score of 9.875 on bars and
Emerson Hurst tied for first on beam scoring a 9.875.
Tigers in the Community
The Towson University athletics department deems community service as one of its highest priorities to give back to the Greater Baltimore area.
Towson was on track to have its 8th consecutive year of over 10,000 hours of community service in 2019-20 before the COVID-19 pandemic shut down all activity. Towson finished with 7,527 hours last year, good for third in the NCAA Teamworks Helper Helper competition.
Towson ranked #1 nationally for community service and won the 2018 National Championship for Community Service through the Helper Helper NCAA Team Works Competition. Towson also won the 2018 Volunteer of the Year Award from Susan G. Komen of Maryland.
Scouting Temple Owls
The Owls competed in a tri-meet at NC State last Saturday scoring a 194.825 coming in third place. Temple hit all four events, recording scores of 48.550 on bars, beam, and vault, and tallying a 49.175 on floor.
Temple's floor score was the highest score for any team on any event at the meet. Three Owls recorded podium finishes, led by senior Faith Leary and junior Ariana Castrence, who tied for the floor title. Freshman Cyrena Whalen took third on bars, her first podium finish of her career. Castrence and junior Julianna Roland competed in the All-Around for the Owls, with Castrence taking third and Roland, fourth
Scouting George Washington Colonials
GW competed for the second time this season last Friday in a quad meet at NC State finishing in third place with a score of 193.600. Deja Chambliss led the way on bars scoring a 9.8. Hannah Cohen finished with a score of 9.750 on beam and Olivia Zona scored a 9.8 on floor. Four gymnasts finished the night with 9.750s on vault.
Amplitude the Awards
- Week seven saw the Tigers earn weekly awards with Jenna Weitz being named Specialist of the Week and Allison Zuhlke being named Rookie of the Week.
Weitz set a career-high of 9.875 in the lead-off position for the Tigers on vault, placing second behind teammate
Camille Vitoff with a 9.900. Her three-event performance led the Tigers to tie a season-high 196.150. Her vault score also helped the team post the highest vault total in school history. Zuhlke tied for first on bars with a career-high 9.900 which is also a program top-10 history score. She added career-highs of 9.825 on beam (3rd) and 9.775 on vault, competing her unique namesake vault for the third time this season.
- Week five saw the Tigers earn weekly awards with Camille Vitoff being named Co-Gymnast of the Week and Jenna Weitz being named Specialist of the Week. Vitoff won the all-around posting a 39.125 and earned a career-high of 9.8 on floor. Weitz earned a career-high 9.8 on vault and a 9.875 on floor.
- For week four, sophomore Vitoff was named Specialist of the Week after completing her Yurchenko 1.5 for the second time ever, earning a 9.800 for third place on vault. Her 9.825 on bars was a career-high and good enough for fourth place in the quad meet on Sunday, helping the Tigers post their highest bar total of the season.
- Sophomore Lauren Bolen was named EAGL Gymnasts of the Week for week three. Bolen was named Gymnast of the Week after competing in the all-around for the first time this season, scoring a career-high 39.050, and her first 39 ever. She won the all-around competition in an EAGL tri-meet.
She tied for first on vault scoring a 9.900 on her Yurchenko Full which is out of a 9.950, which was also a career-high.
- Freshman Allison Zuhlke earned her first weekly award after being named Co-Rookie of the Week from the East Gymnastics League (EAGL) on Jan. 19. She posted two 9.7 scores for the Tigers helping them post their highest opening score in school history. She placed fifth on both bars and beam posting the third-highest score for the Tigers on both events.
Conference Rankings
- The Tigers moved up a spot in the EAGL rankings moving to second on beam, bars and overall.
- Towson is ranked first on vault in EAGL.
- Lauren Bolen is ranked second in the all-around and fourth on vault.
- Camille Vitoff is ranked second on vault.
- Allison Zuhlke is ranked sixth on bars.
- Emerson Hurst is ranked second on beam and Jenna Weitz is ranked fifth.
- Amy Stewart is ranked fifth on floor.
