When Sunday, February 26, 2023
Where SECU Arena | Towson, Md.
Team Records Towson (17-2-1)
Fisk (0-21)
George Washington (10-9)
William & Mary (3-5)
Live Stat Stat Broadcast
Live Video YouTube
First Rotation
Towson is back at home for the last time this season, closing out SECU competitions with a quad meet versus Fisk, George Washington and William & Mary. This will be quite an eventful meet as the Tigers are honoring graduating seniors, having a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion day theme and welcoming the first ever historically black college & university (HBCU) gymnastics squad.
Welcome to New York
The Tigers are coming off of a brief New York stint, competing in back-to-back meets at Long Island University. Towson started this tour with a dual meet with the Sharks on Feb 18, where the meet concluded in a draw as both teams scored 195.925. The Black & Gold found most success on the floor (49.275), posting the ninth best score in program history after Amy Stewart, Grace Vaillancourt and Paige Casper tied for first in the event with 9.875s.
Two days later the Tigers posted a season high beam score of 49.125 to win the quad meet against LIU, Brown and Bridgeport. Towson posted 49.000s or better on bars (49.075), beam (49.125) and floor (49.225). The team found success again on floor as Amy Stewart, Grace Vaillancourt and Isabella Minervini tied for second with 9.875s, helping the Tigers achieve a team score of 49.225 on the event.
Towson's best event continues to be uneven bars, as the Tigers have scored above 49.000 at every meet this season, with a program best 49.400 being achieved at the last home meet.
Scouting the Bulldogs
Fisk has had a tough field of competitors this season, as it has gone up against seven teams that are currently ranked in the top-30 nationally. While the team has yet to capture a win, the Bulldogs have steadily increased it's scores from 184.800 to a season high of 190.100. The team's strength lies in floor, where they posted a season high 48.775 on Jan 20. Morgan Price leads the way for the Bulldogs in three of the events, claiming the top scores on vault (9.900), bars (9.900) and floor (9.875). Aliyah Reed-Hammon has the highest beam score at 9.925. Via RoadToNationals.com the team is currently ranked 66th.
Scouting the Colonials
George Washington and Towson are quite familiar with each other, as the teams have already gone head-to-head once this season and will compete against one another two more times not including tomorrow's meet. Currently ranked 37th nationally, the team finds most success on vault where they have posted above 49.000s for six out of the eight meets this season so far. GW is ranked 19th in the nation on the event as well. Graduate student Deja Chambliss holds the best scores on the team for vault and floor, posting 9.925 for both events. Chambliss was named EAGL Gymnast of the Week on Feb 15 after winning her fourth straight vault title and posting a season best 39.425 in the all-around. Sarah Zois (9.875) holds the beam top score and Libby Garfoot (9.900) has the bars.
Scouting the Tribe
W&M currently ranks sixth in the Gymnastics East Conference with a scoring average of 190.645. The Tribe's best events have been bars (47.515) and floor (48.365) where it ranks fifth in the conference on both. The Tribe posted their season best overall score of 192.775 at a dual meet with Alaska. Nationally the team is ranked 82 in all four events and overall. Sarah Kuper (9.725) holds the team's best score for vault, Ascha Laird (9.775) claims the bars top spot, Carolina Blatchford (9.750) has beam and Keaghan Schafer (9.875) holds floor.
Making History
-Fisk University is the first HBCU to have a women's gymnastics team.
-The Tigers will help the Bulldogs make history as they complete their first season as a program.
-Groups from out of state will be coming to the meet to watch and support this historic moment.
Senior Send Off
-Towson will be honoring it's five graduating seniors: Lauren Bolen, Paige Casper, Amy Stewart, Jenna Weitz and Camille Vitoff.
-The ceremony is set to happen at the end of the meet, seniors will be joined by their families as a brief speech about their time with the Tigers will be given.
EAGL Rankings
-Towson (17-2-1(5-1-1 EAGL)) is currently ranked first in EAGL (via RoadToNationals.com daily results) with a high 196.450 and average 196.022.
-Isabella Minervini remains ranked third on bars while Grace Vaillancourt is still ranked fourth.
-Polina Belanovski made her way onto the leaderboard, currently ranked fifth on vault
Towson Leaders by Event
-Vault: Polina Belanovski, 9.900
-Bars: Grace Vaillancourt and Isabella Minervini, 9.950
-Beam: Jenna Weitz, 9.875
-Floor: Amy Stewart and Paige Casper, 9.925
Talented Playing Field
-12 out of the 21 teams Towson will compete against for the 2023 season are either ranked or receiving votes in the WGCA Preseason Coaches Poll.
-The highest ranked competitor is University of Denver, ranked 13th with 1119 points.
-Maryland (424) and Iowa State (407) are ranked 29th and 30th respectively.
-West Virginia is ranked 33rd with 214 points.
-George Washington, Temple, New Hampshire, Rutgers, Pittsburg, LIU, Ball State and Fisk all received votes.
Next Time on Tiger Gymnastics
-Towson heads to Temple for a quad meet with West Chester and Maryland on March 2.
