Stypinski and Martucci Earn Gymnastics Weekly Honors
Gymnast of the Week
Rachel Stypinski, Kent State, Senior
All-American Rachel Stypinski matched her career-high of 39.550 to win the all-around at Sunday’s Pink Meet against Eastern Michigan. Her all-around score is tied for the third-highest in program history and she is now the only gymnast in Kent State history to earn a 39.550 or higher in multiple all-around competitions. Stypinski also won the floor exercise and balance beam titles by .075 each. The senior received a perfect 10 from one judge on floor, as she tied her career-high score of 9.975, which is also tied for the second-best score in program history. Stypinski scored a 9.925 on beam, her fourth straight meet with a 9.900 or higher on the apparatus. She started the meet with a season-best 9.825 on vault and also earned a 9.825 on uneven bars.
Vault: 9.825 / 3rd
Bars: 9.825 / 5th
Beam: 9.925 / 1st
Floor: 9.975 / 1st
Specialist of the Week
Anna Martucci, Northern Illinois, Junior
NIU Junior Anna Martucci (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes) anchored the floor squad with a 9.925 to tie her career best and the third highest individual floor score at NIU.
Floor: 9.925 / 1st
Gymnast Nominations
Jordyn Penny, Ball State, Senior
Senior Ball State gymnast Jordyn Penny has had back to back weeks with impressive standings. Penny’s vault landed her in 9th place with a score of 9.625. On bars she notched a 9.800 in fifth place and on beam she fought hard and managed a 9.750 fifth place finish. Penny has proven to be one of Ball State’s most consistent gymnasts aiding the team to consecutive 195.000 standings.
Vault: 9.625 / 9th
Bars: 9.800 / 5th
Beam: 9.750 / 5th
Jovannah East, Bowling Green, Sophomore
Jovannah East, a sophomore from Zion, Ill., accumulated a quartet of 9.900s and a pair of 9.825s as BGSU Gymnastics competed twice last weekend. At Elevate The Stage on Friday, East wowed the Seagate Centre crowd in Toledo, Ohio with a 9.900 on vault which earned second place. She added 9.825s on the beam and the floor before ultimately finishing the all-around in fifth place (39.125). BGSU finished the quad meet against #6 Michigan, #12 Denver, and Utah State with a 194.750. The Falcons returned home on Sunday to face Central Michigan and Ohio State, and East helped BGSU beat CMU with arguably her best meet as a Falcon. East scored three 9.900s and earned a personal record on the beam. She won the vault and floor competitions outright, tied for second on the beam, and won the all-around with a 39.300. No Falcon athlete has as many 9.9s in one meet in the last five seasons, and the team’s five 9.9s on Sunday were the most in one meet since 2016. East guided BGSU to a 195.400 and helped hand CMU its first conference loss of 2018. East’s vault RQS is tied for 19th nationally and leads the MAC (9.875). Her beam and floor RQS are also in the MAC’s top five. She has eight career 9.9s in two seasons. East has 21 top-three finishes and 14 wins in 2018, and owns 40 top-threes and 26 wins in her career. She has a 9.8+ in 25 of 30 events in 2018 (.833) and 53 of 62 in her career (.855).
Vault: 9.900 / 2nd, 9.900 / 1st
Bars: 9.575 / 20th, 9.600 / 16th
Beam: 9.825 / T-6th, 9.900 / T-2nd
Floor: 9.825 / 11th, 9.900 / 1st
Bryttany, Central Michigan, Senior
Senior, Bryttany Kaplan had a standout performance this past weekend at Bowling Green, Ohio against Bowling Green and Ohio State. She held the final position for CMU on the uneven bars where she tied her career high 9.900 to finish tied for first on the event. With this score, she helped CMU capture a season high 49.250 on the event. This team score ranks seventh in all-time CMU history uneven bar scores. She continued her hot streak of the meet by providing a 9.800 on floor to finish tied for eighth on the event. On the final rotation, she hit a career high 9.825 to tie for fifth on vault.
Vault: 9.825 / T-5th
Bars: 9.900 / T-1st
Floor: 9.800 / T-8th
Jules Schwartz, Eastern Michigan, Sophomore
Senior Jules Schwartz had a career-day in EMU’s 194.875-193.925 win over Kent State Sunday, Feb. 25, in Kent, Ohio. The Gilbert, Ariz. Native began her day on bars, posting her first career-best score of 9.775 with a solid routine. Schwartz then went on to notch another personal-best on vault, marking her highest event score of the day and taking the event title with a 9.875. She rounded out her impressive day with another personal-high, this time marking a 9.825 on floor. Additionally, her score on floor ranked second on Eastern, and helped assist the event squad to a 49.125, EMU’s highest score on any event this season.
Vault: 9.875 / 1st
Bars: 9.775 / 6th
Floor: 9.825 / 4th
Ashley Potts, Northern Illinois, Senior
Senior Ashley Potts (Oakwood Hills, Ill./Prairie Ridge) recorded a 9.950 to tie the uneven parallel bars school record and set her career high. Potts also tied her career high floor score of 9.800. She went on to score a 9.800 on vault and a 9.750 on the balance beam to round out a first-place all-around score of 39.300.
Vault: 9.800 / T-2nd
Bars: 9.950 / 1st
Beam 9.750 / T-5th
Floor: 9.800 / T-7th
Rachael Underwood, Western Michigan, Junior
Rachael Underwood led the Western Michigan gymnastics team on Saturday at the Rutgers quad meet going a perfect three-for-three on vault, beam and floor. The junior veteran led all gymnasts on the floor as she tied a career-best 9.900 on the event, her second time this season recording the score on the floor. She followed that up with a 9.825 on vault to lead all Broncos while taking second overall in a field of 23 gymnasts. Underwood’s third and final event occurred on the beam as she scored second for the Broncos on a 9.725 score on the event, good for sixth overall in the competition.
Vault: 9.825 / 2nd
Beam: 9.725 / 6th
Floor: 9.900 / 1st
Specialist Nominations
Tia Kiaku, Ball State, Freshman
Freshman Ball State Cardinal Tia Kiaku had the performance of her career Sunday evening at Northern Illinois. Kiaku has improved week by week and is one of the top scoring Cardinals on the floor squad with 75% of her scores being over 9.800. This week she joins the Ball State record holders for her career high performance on floor of a 9.900. Kiaku has a bright future as a Cardinal and we can’t wait to see what her four years brings her.
Floor: 9.900 / 2nd
Kayla Rose, Bowling Green, Junior
Kayla Rose, a junior from Hamilton, Ohio, helped the BGSU gymnastics team improve its Regional Qualifying Score in two meets last weekend. On Friday at the Elevate The Stagemeet in Toledo, Ohio, Rose delivered a season-best routine that scored a 9.875 in the floor exercise and tied for sixth against gymnasts from #6 Michigan, #12 Denver, and Utah State. That was the Falcons’ highest floor score of the day. Then, on Sunday at home against Central Michigan and Ohio State, Rose tallied a 9.825 and tied for fourth in the floor exercise. BGSU’s floor lineup earned 49.100 in both meets and had the highest team floor score on Sunday. The team scored a 194.750 on Friday; on Sunday, their 195.400 beat CMU’s 195.375 and handed the Chippewas their first MAC loss of 2018.
Floor: 9.875 / T-6th, 9.825 / T-4th
Hayley Porter, Central Michigan, Sophomore
Hayley Porter started off against Bowling Green and Ohio State with a new career high on the uneven bars with a score of 9.900. This score helped the sophomore tie for first place. This was her first victory on an event in her career at CMU. With this score, she helped CMU capture a season high 49.250 on the event. This team score ranks seventh in all-time CMU history uneven bar scores. On the second rotation, she scored a 9.775 on the beam to tie for ninth on the event.
Bars: 9.900 / T-1st
Beam: 9.775 / T-9th
Megan Hultgren, Eastern Michigan, Junior
Junior Megan Hultgren continued her impressive season in EMU’s 194.875-193.925 win over Kent State Sunday, Feb. 25, in Kent, Ohio. The junior started her day with a huge personal-best on vault, posting a 9.85 to rank second in the meet and serve as a huge contributor to the second-highest event score tallied by Eastern this season. Hultgren finished out her day on beam, putting together the second-best performance of the meet and highest score on EMU with a 9.85.
Vault: 9.850 / 2nd
Beam: 9.850 / 2nd
Brooke Timko, Kent State, Senior
Senior Brooke Timko scored a career-best 9.900 to win the uneven bars competition by .050 at Sunday’s Pink Meet against Eastern Michigan. Timko has headed the Golden Flashes’ committee that spent countless hours planning and fundraising in preparation of the annual Pink Meet and had the honor of accompanying Kent State University President Dr. Beverly Warren, a breast cancer survivor, during march-in prior to the meet. The senior captain then stepped up and performed her best routine as a collegiate to lead the nation’s No. 14 bars rotation to a 49.025.
Bars: 9.900 / 1st
Amelia Mohler, Western Michigan, Sophomore
Sophomore Amelia Mohler played a big role on the bars for the Western Michigan gymnastics team at the Rutgers quad meet on Saturday evening. Mohler led the Broncos with a 9.850 to boost WMU to a 48.450 team score, good for second place in front of the Scarlet Knights and Ursinus College. The score from Mohler placed her in a three-way tie for third overall out of 24 gymnasts.
Bars: 9.850 / T-3rd
