Florida, Penn and Rutgers at N.C. State

Recap

The Big Storyline: Florida freshman Leanne Wong turned in a remarkable performance that earned her four individual titles and the highest all-around total of the season. Wong—CGN’s top-rated recruit of the class of 2021—has been undoubtedly impressive this season but had yet to put together a truly complete all-around performance (by her standards). 

Implications: Rutgers cracked the 196 barrier for the first time this season but was mathematically eliminated from a possible postseason run. Though the remaining teams’ NQSes were marginally affected by the quad meet’s scores, none saw any impact to their respective conference rankings or postseason prospects.  

Records: Rutgers saved its best performance for last, decisively breaking its previous program high of 196.225 set in 2014. Emily Wood and Stephanie Zanella set career highs on floor and beam respectively. With her uneven bars win, Trinity Thomas is in sole possession of the program career events win record with a whopping 96 individual titles to her name. Senior Savannah Schoenherr earned a career high on vault while Megan Skaggs matched her career high 9.950 on bars. N.C. State junior Emily Shepard secured a program record 24th career score of 9.9-plus. Her teammates Gabrielle Diaz and Lauren Rutherford tied their respective career highs on bars. Penn’s Connie Hsu and Emma Davies also posted career bests on floor.

Preview

Current Rankings: No. 2 Florida, No. 44 Rutgers and No. 52 Penn at No. 26 N.C. State

Why You Should Clear Space on Your DVR: Florida moved into second place nationally with its unbelievable 198.575 against Auburn last week. The Gators have a little more room to improve than the Sooners and can tie for the top spot with a 198.125 or better performance. N.C. State, meanwhile, has already secured its regionals berth (no play-in meet for the Wolfpack this season, *knock on wood*) but will be looking to put more distance between itself and EAGL rivals Towson and North Carolina ahead of conference championships.  

You Can Fast Forward, but not Through This: N.C. State’s bars lineup has scored as low as 47.675 and as high as 49.450 while its beam lineup has been remarkably steady (and ranked 17th nationally); both are worth watching. Penn junior Mccaleigh Marr is an outstanding bars and beam specialist who can realistically challenge the rest of this impressive field for event titles (particularly on beam). Similarly, Rutgers’ senior Belle Huang is an outstanding floor worker, currently ranked 20th.