North Carolina to New York This Weekend For Temple Gymnastics

PHILADELPHIA – Temple gymnastics will be in action twice in a three-day span for the third straight week starting on Friday night, Jan. 24 at 7:30 p.m. in Chapel Hill, N.C. with a dual meet with No. 28 North Carolina and then will travel north to Long Island to compete in the LIU tri meet against No. 25 NC State on Sunday at 2 p.m. Friday's match will be available through the ACCNX, while Sunday's tri-meet at LIU will be available through the Sharks athletics website.

ONE TOUCH WARMUP

On Monday, the LIU gymnastics team finished in second place behind Towson who scored 196.350. LIU finished 195.775 ahead of Brown (194.125) and Bridgeport (191.875).
No. 25 UNC was in action twice last weekend. On Friday, the Tar Heels came in second place at the the George Washington Quad Meet. GW won the meet with 195.875, while North Carolina finished in second with a 194.125, while Temple finished with a 193.975 and Yale finished in fourth with a 194.050 score. Just two days later, UNC was victorious over Pitt in Pittsburgh on Sunday, 195.700-194.950 enroute to the EAGL regular season championship after posting a 5-0 league record.
No. 28 NC State earned two meet victories last weekend after defeating New Hampshire in a dual meet, 196.150-195.650 and then won the Temple Quad Meet with 196.475 score. The Wolfpack defeated GW (196.075), Temple (195.450), and Penn (195.125).

ROAD TO THE NATIONALS

Week seven marked the start of the NQS rankings as Temple finds itself ranked No. 49 overall in the national rankings with a 194.420. On the four apparatuses the Cherry and White are No. 50 on the vault with a 48.630, No. 41 on bars with a 48.790, No. 46 on the beam with a 48.635, and No. 59 on the floor with a 48.495.
Temple competed two times last weekend while earning some of the best marks in school history. On Friday night at the George Washington quad meet, the Owls' floor team scored 49.300, the fourth-highest score in program history. Just two days later at home the floor team out did themselves by breaking the aforementioned floor record with a 49.400. Prior to Sunday's meet, Temple's previous benchmark of 49.375 was set in 2021 and matched twice in 2022. Additionally, the Owls' Sunday score of 195.450 also set their season-high output.

Bars

Sarah Stallings enters this weekend as the most consistent performer on the bars thus far this season. The sophomore is ranked ninth in the northeast region with an NQS of 9.840, while totaling four wins on the apparatus this season. Just last weekend during the Ken Anderson Invitational quad meet with NC State, Penn, and George Washington, Stallings set a new career-high with a score of 9.900. In each of the seven meets this season, the Raleigh, N.C. native has now added scores of 9.8 or higher, while putting together a 9.843 average.
Junior Cyrena Whalen joins Stallings as a notable performer on the bars this season. In six of Whalen's seven outings this season, she's scored at least a 9.7 or better. The Buford, Ga. native has a NQS of 9.700 and has averaged a 9.704. Just last weekend during the Ken Anderson Invitational, Whalen matched her career-high with a season-best 9.850.
The Owls are No. 41 NQS in the Road to the Nationals rankings with a 48.690. During last weekend's Ken Anderson Invitational, the team put up a season-high 49.000, tying for the ninth-best score in school history.

Beam

In the last two meets on Feb. 17 and Feb. 19, the Owls have struggled on the beam, scoring a 47.100 and 48.150, but during the Feb. 10 quad meet at Towson, the Owls scored a season high with a 49.200, tying for the fifth-highest score in school history and their second 49-plus score of 2023.
Brooke Donabedian is one of the conference's best on the beam. Earlier in the season, the Maple Valley, Wash. native has earned a pair of wins, including a career-high, 9.900 performance on Feb. 10 at Towson. Since then, she's duplicated that score at home on Feb. 19 during the Ken Anderson Invitational.
Madison Dorunda has added excellent routines over the past four meets, resulting in 9.8-plus scores. The Waterford, Conn. junior averaged a 9.831 average over that span, while securing a personal-best score of 9.875 on Feb. 10 at Towson.
Donabedian is tied for third in both the EAGL and northeast region with a NQS of 9.840. She's fourth in the EAGL and third in the northeast region with a 9.840. Dorunda also joins Donabedian in the top 15 NQS regional rankings with a 9.790.

Vault

In three of the last four meets, the Owls scored their season high. On Feb. 5 and Feb. 17, Temple tied its season-high score of 48.775, but in their last meet home on Feb. 19 during the Ken Anderson Invitational, Temple scored a new season-high 48.900. The Cherry and White had five of its six gymnasts score at least a 9.775 in the meet including, Renee Schugman, Mackenzie Aresta, Charlie Behner, Madison Brooks, scoring a 9.775, while Anna Hill led the team with a season-high 9.8.
Freshman Ashley Glynn leads the vault team this season as she's in the top 20 of the northeast regional rankings with a 9.770 NQS. In four of the seven meets thus far this season, Glynn has scored at least at 9.800, including a career-best 9.850 on Feb. 17 at the GW quad meet.

Floor

Individually, Brooke Donabedian and Renee Schugman highlighted the Owls' performances on the floor over the last two meets. Both gymnasts scored at least a 9.9 in each of those two meets, including on Feb. 17 at George Washington, Donabedian earned first place on the with a 9.925, followed that up two days later with a share of first place with Schugman during the Ken Anderson Invitational with a pair of 9.925 scores. Schugman was one of five gymnasts to earn career-high scores during the event: Summer Ruskey (9.875), Ashley Glynn (9.850), Madison Dorunda (9.825), and Anna Hill (9.825).
On the season, Donabedian has three floor victories and ranks No. 9 in the EAGL and tied for No. 7 in the northeast region with a 9.845 NQS.

All-Around

Over the last two meets, freshman Ashley Glynn has performed in all four events, upping her score both times. On Feb. 17 at George Washington, the Delaware native finished with a 38.550, finishing in second place, but two days later in front of the Temple home fans, Glynn finished in fourth place with a 38.950.

SCOUTING UNC

Julia Knower ranks No. 3 in the all-around rankings of the EAGL with a 39.625 NQS. Knower also has positioned herself as No. 1 on the floor with a 9.905, No. 7 on the beam with a 9.810, and just outside the top 10 on the vault with a 9.800.
Elizabeth Culton has the second-best EAGL NQS ranking on the beam with a 9.845.
Laila Dekonoidze (4th) and Kaya Forbes (6th) are top 10 on the vault with a 9.860 and 9.825, respectively.
On the bars, UNC has just one gymnast in the top 10 as Isabelle Schaefer is No. 9 with a 9.855.

SCOUTING LIU

Mara Titarsolej is the second-best gymnast on the bars this season in terms of NQS in the EAGL. Titarsolej has averaged a 9.929 this season and with an NQS of 9.925.
On the beam, Ilka Juk is No. 6 with a 9.830 and Ella Barrington sits outside the top 10 with a 9.820 NQS on the floor.

SCOUTING NC STATE

The No. 25 Wolfpack comes into the weekend after posting a pair of 196-plus scores last weekend.
Emily Shepard is the EAGL's best all-around performer as she currently sits with a 39.310 NQS. Shepard has a 9.845 on bars and is tied with teammate Cloe Negrete for second in the conference with a 9.865 on vault.
On the floor, the Wolfpack have three individuals including, Negrete, Shepard, and Lauren Rutherford all ranked in top 10 of the EAGL rankings. Negrete is No. 2 with a 9.9 NQS, Shepard has a 9.860, and Rutherford has a 9.850.
On the beam, Negrete ranks first with 9.880 NQS, while teammate Krista Zultevicz is No. 10 with a 9.795.

UP NEXT
Temple will return to McGonigle Hall for the final time this season for two meets on Thursday, March 2 and then Sunday, March 5. The Owls will host West Chester, Maryland, and Towson for the "My Cause Meet" and then Temple will host senior day festivities on Sunday following the quad meet with Fisk, Ursinus, and SCSU. Both meets will start at 4 p.m. and will be available on ESPN+,

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