Gymnastics Heads to Towson for Tri-Meet

PHILADELPHIA - Coming off their second-best team score of the season, the Temple Owls will travel to Towson, Md to face the Tigers for the second time this season along the first meeting with the LIU Sharks. Friday's meet will be available on YouTube and will begin at 6 p.m. ET.

ROAD TO THE NATIONALS
During week seven the Owls scored a 194.975, leading the Ken Anderson Invitational from the start to end. In six meets, Temple has averaged 193.608. The Owls best event this season has been on floor where they are ranked 49th in the RoadtoNationals rankings with a 48.911. The other rankings include 58th on both the vault (48.546) and bars (48.282) and 65th on beam (48.050).

VAULT
The Owls used nine gymnasts thus far this season on vault, with freshmen Hailey Best, Hannah Weklar, Amelia Budd, and junior Madison Dorunda seeing action on the apparatus for the first time in their careers. Fellow junior Summer Ruskey returned to the Owls' vault lineup for the first time since 2022.

The last time out at home during the Ken Anderson Invitational, the Owls scored 48.425 with senior Mackenzie Aresta and freshman Hannah Weklar the only two Temple gymnasts to earn at least 9.7 score. For Aresta, the Matewan, N.J. native scored a 9.775, her fifth score of 9.7 or better. Weklars' 9.700 earned the freshman her third straight 9.7 or better.

Notably, senior Renee Schugman has been the most consistent TU performer on vault, averaging 9.725. She's earned a 9.7 or better in four of the six meets she's competed.

BARS
During the Ken Anderson Invitational, the Owls scored a season-high 48.800 on bars. Five of the six Owls' gymnasts scored 9.7 or better. Junior Sarah Stallings led the way for Temple, tying for the meet-high (9.850), earning her second straight bars win. Sophomore Reese DeHaan and Angelina Hogan and senior Cyrena Whalen scored 9.750. Fellow sophomore Emily Johnson scored a 9.700, earning her fifth straight mark of 9.7 or better this year.

Thus far through six meets, the junior Stallings has won a team-best four times on bars. Stallings started out the season with three-straight 9.8s or better and now her fifth overall. In her career, the Raleigh, N.C. native has earned 20 scores of 9.8-plus and nine bars event championships.

BEAM
Just like the week before, Brooke Donabedian earned the beam victory, scoring a 9.875, .050 better than the week before at Penn. It was the Maple Valley, Wash. native's third beam with this season, while scoring her third straight 9.8 or better. Along with Donabedian, three Owls scored 9.7 or better. Fellow senior Renee Schugman scored her third straight and fifth overall 9.8 or better as she scored a 9.825. Juniors Madison Dorunda (9.775) and Sarah Stalling (9.700) also scored 9.7 or better.

After seven meets in 2024, Schugman continues to be the Owls' most consistent gymnast on beam, averaging, 9.782. Schugman has scored 9.8 in four of the six meets, including picking up a win at West Virginia earlier in the season.

Schugman is currently ranked 10th in the EAGL and 19th in the northeast region with a 9.754.

FLOOR
The Owls outscored the field with a 49.075, their second-highest score this season. Just like the week before at Penn, Brooke Donabedian scored a 9.900, her highest mark this season, and fourth win in 2024. Junior Madison Dorunda got the Cherry and White rolling as she led off with a 9.725. Fellow junior Hannah Stallings (9.725) added her fifth straight score of 9.725 or better and third straight overall. Junior Summer Ruskey and freshman Payton Monk increased the TU average on floor with a pair of 9.8s. In the fourth position, Ruskey earned a 9.825, while Monk followed with a season-high 9.875. Both Monk and Ruskey finished in second and third place, respectively, behind their teammate Donabedian.

The Owls have used the seven gymnasts on the floor all season which includes Hannah Stallings, Brooke Donabedian, Renee Schugman, Summer Ruskey, Payton Monk, Madison Dorunda, and Skylar Shafran.

Temple's floor team put on its best performance of the season one month ago at home versus Towson as it scored a 49.175, tying the score from a week earlier. During the meet, senior Brooke Donabedian led the team as she scored a 9.875. As a team, each of the six gymnasts scored at least a 9.800 or better. Highlighting that group, was 9.850s from freshman Payton Monk and junior Hannah Stallings. For Monk, it was the second time in a meet she scored her career-benchmark, while Stallings earned her career-high for the first time.

The freshman Monk and the senior Donabedian have been the only two floor team members to score at least a 9.700 each time out this season. Monk has scored at least a 9.800 in five of the seven meets, including putting together a career-high 9.875 during the Ken Anderson Invitational on Feb. 16.

Donabedian has also been a consistent performer in the event with five scores in at least the 9.8 range. The Maple Valley, Wash. native has added four events wins and three times this season she's scored a 9.900 and now 12 times in her career.

Both Donabedian rank within the top 25 of the northeast region of the RoadtoNationals rankings at No. 14 (9.843) and No. 21 (9.821), respectively.

SCOUTING TOWSON
Isabella Minervini and Retoshia Halshell took home two of the three weekly EAGL awards this past week.

Minervini earned specialist of the week after posting a career-high 9.975 on bars, picking up her fourth victory on the event this season. Minervini became the first Towson gymnast to post a 9.975 on the event and now ranks second in program history. Minervini ranks first in the EAGL and 12th in the NCAA on bars with a 9.911 average.

Halsell earned her second straight rookie of the week award as she matched a career-high 9.850 on vault and a 9.875, a collegiate career-high 9.875 on floor, also a career-high.

The Tigers posted a season-high, 196.600, and a program record road score in program history, narrowly falling to the Revolutionaries who logged a 196.625 for first place. New Hampshire rounded out the podium in third with a 195.675 while Kent State placed fourth with a 195.125. William & Mary posted a 193.450 for fifth.

SCOUTING LIU
Syd Morris won the all-around and beam on Saturday during LIU's home quad meet with Brown, Cornell, and Penn. LIU finished fourth in the quad meet with its highest score of the season, 194.175.

Morris scored a 9.925 on the beam to win the event and finished third in the floor exercise with a 9.900. On the bars, Sharks' Brisa Carraro and Cael Bixler tied for first on the bars, each scoring 9.825. On vault, Alana Ricketts was LIU's highest finisher, scoring 9.825, good enough for a 9.825.

Alina Danilchenko was named Co-Rookie of the Week for Feb. 14 as she scored two career highs on beam (9.8) and floor (9.875) at the Empire State Collegiate Championship on February 11. She led off for the team on floor, placing second overall which marked her first top-three finish as a Shark.

UP NEXT
The Temple Owls will go to Raleigh, N.C. on March 2 to compete in a quad meet with Penn, Maryland, and the host NC Wolfpack.

For complete coverage of Temple gymnastics, follow the Owls on social media @TUWG (Twitter), facebook.com/ TempleWGymnastics (Facebook), @templegymnastics (Instagram), or visit the official home of Temple University Athletics at owlsports.com and on TikTok @templeowls.

Temple University Athletics

Gymnastics Heads to Towson for Tri-Meet

Players Mentioned

Mackenzie Aresta

Hailey Best

Amelia Budd

Reese DeHaan

Brooke Donabedian

Madison Dorunda

Angelina Hogan

Emily Johnson

Summer Ruskey

Renee Schugman

Skylar Shafran

Hannah Stallings

Sarah Stallings

Hannah Weklar

Cyrena Whalen

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