Rutgers Gymnastics Looks To Continue Strong Start In Maryland Friday
Feb 17 | Women's Gymnastics
PISCATAWAY, N.J. (Feb. 17, 2011) – The Rutgers gymnastics team, coming off its highest score since 2004, will look to continue its strong performance so far this season when the Scarlet Knights travel to College Park, Md. for a quad-meet with Maryland, Penn State and William & Mary Friday at 7 p.m. inside the Comcast Center.
Rutgers enters the meet with an 11-5 record in competition this season – its highest win total since the 2007 season when RU finished the year 17-6 overall. The Scarlet Knights’ average team score of 191.732 is more than two full points higher than last year’s season average of 189.528.
RU is coming off a dual meet victory over Cortland last Saturday where the Scarlet Knights posted a score of 193.525 – their highest total since the 2004 season. Freshman Luisa Leal-Restrepo (Cali, Colombia) led Rutgers, capturing the vault, bars, floor exercise and all-around titles with a record-setting performance. She was honored as the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) Rookie of the Week on Tuesday. The freshman guided RU to a school-record team score of 48.825 on the vault with her individual school-record tying performance of 9.875 in the event. The Scarlet Knights made it a clean sweep in event titles with sophomore Jenna Zito (Rockaway, N.J.) scoring a career-best 9.775 to take home the balance beam crown in the Cortland meet.
Leal-Restrepo and Zito have been RU’s main all-around competitors, while freshman Alyssa Straub (Nazareth, Pa.) has also competed in the all-around for the Scarlet Knights. She was unable to compete in RU’s last meet at Cortland. Leal-Restrepo is averaging a score of 38.489 in the all-around, while Zito is averaging a score of 38.138 and Straub is averaging a score of 37.910.
Maryland enters Friday’s meet 7-3 overall with an average score of 193.442. The Terrapins are coming off a 194.225 – 193.600 victory over Pittsburgh last Saturday. Freshman Katy Dodds was honored as the EAGL Specialist of the Week with her career-high performance of 9.900 on the vault in Maryland’s last meet.
Penn State owns a record of 6-4 and is ranked No. 18 nationally. PSU posted a score of 195.925 in a victory over North Carolina last time out. Sophomore Sharaya Musser is ranked No. 19 nationally and No. 3 on the balance beam. She is averaging a 39.167 in the all-around and a 9.867 on the balance beam this season.
William & Mary is 3-10 on the season. Sophomore Kristin Milardo was the recipient of the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach’s Choice Award earlier this week after scoring a 37.975 in the all-around at George Washington last time out. W&M scored a 187.825 in its last meet at George Washington.
Rutgers has not faced Maryland or Penn State this season. The Scarlet Knights competed against William & Mary in the George Washington Invitational on January 16. RU scored a 191.725 to place third, while the Tribe scored a 190.275 to place fifth in the seven-school competition.
Friday’s event will serve as Maryland’s breast cancer awareness meet and several competitors will be wearing pink to promote breast cancer research.
