Owls defeat Long Island in Sunday showdown

Temple University women’s gymnastics (4-2, 1-1 East Atlantic Gymnastics League) defeated Long Island University (1-1, 0-2 East Atlantic Gymnastics League) in the Black Lives Matter Meet in Brookville, New York, on Sunday afternoon.

The Owls posted a score of 195.800 while the Sharks tallied a score of 193.850.

“We had a lot of highlights as a team,” said head coach Josh Nilson. “We had a couple small things the girls cleaned up, but honestly we’re still not going 24 for 24.”

Temple opened up the meet on bars with a score of 48.800. Senior all-around Ariana Castrence led the team with a season-high mark of 9.825, and senior all-around Caitlin Gray notched a score of 9.775, tying her personal high.

Vault was the second rotation for the Owls, who posted a season-high score of 49.075 – the best at the event. Freshman all-around Hannah Stallings and freshman all-around Sarah Stallings tied for the meet-high score with a 9.850. Sarah Stallings posted a personal high score as well.

“The only event we hit pretty clean was vault,” Nilson said. “To get 49.075 is impressive, that’s a good score.”

Temple competed on floor in the third event and tallied a meet-high score of 48.975. All-around graduate student Tori Edwards secured the highest score on the team, tying a season-high with a 9.875. Hannah Stallings fell right behind with a season-high 9.850.

The Owls concluded the competition on beam, posting an event high 48.950. Hannah Stallings scored the highest on the team and in the meet with a season-high 9.850. Castrence and sophomore all-around Brooke Donabedian notched scores of 9.825.

Hannah Stallings clinched the all-around victory for the fourth consecutive meet finishing with a score of 39.250, the fifth-highest score in school history.

“She’s got ice in her veins,” Nilson said. “Honestly, I mean, I don’t think anything can rattle that girl. She’s just a competitor, I’m so proud of her.”

Temple will travel to Towson, Maryland, to take on Towson University (5-2, 2-2 East Atlantic Gymnastics League), Eastern Michigan University (3-2-1, 1-1 Mid-American Conference) and Long Island University on Feb. 4 at 6 p.m.