Owls takes two wins at Tri-Meet Tournament

Temple University women’s gymnastics (6-3, 2-2 East Atlantic Gymnastics League) defeated Eastern Michigan University (4-4-1, 1-1 Mid-American Conference) and Long Island University (3-7, 0-4 East Atlantic Gymnastics League), but lost to Towson University (10-2, 4-2 East Atlantic Gymnastics League) on Friday night in the Tri-Meet at Towson.

Towson posted an overall score of 196.700, Temple recorded a 194.650, Eastern Michigan tallied a 194.575 and Long Island notched a 193.350.

“There was a lot of good things that happened at the meet,” said head coach Josh Nilson. “Unfortunately they were just a little tight on bars and had some uncharacteristic things happen on beam.”

Temple began the meet on bars, and scored a 48.475 on the event. Senior all-around Ariana Castrence led the team with a score of 9.775. Freshman all-around Hannah Stallings and freshman all-around Sarah Stallings both posted a 9.700 in the event.

The Owls tallied a 47.650 on beam, their lowest of the season. Sophomore all-around Renee Schugman posted a team-high 9.775. Freshman all-around Summer Ruskey tied a career-high score with a 9.725.

On the third rotation, Temple scored the highest of any team on floor with 49.375, setting a season-high and tying a school record. Senior all-around Julianna Roland tied her career-high and placed second in the meet with a 9.900. Schugman, graduate student all-around Tori Edwards and graduate student all-around Faith Leary each recorded a score of 9.875 and tied for third place.

“Both floor and vault showed up tonight,” Nilson said. “They’re hitting their stride for sure.” 

The Owls ended the night on vault, posting a season-high score and tying a program record with a 49.150. Roland notched a score of 9.900 to finish in first in the event. Castrence tied for second place with a 9.875.

“She does it for the team, and I love that about her,” Nilson said. “Just really, really proud of her.”

Hannah Stallings won her fifth straight all-around title as she recorded a score of 38.350.

Next, the Owls will travel to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, to take on the University of North Carolina (7-5, 4-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) on Feb. 12 at 5:30 p.m.