In round one of the NCAA Gainesville Regional, Clemson gymnastics (6-2, 4-2 ACC) will face off against Iowa State (9-15) in the Tigers’ first-ever NCAA Championships meet.
Both teams made it to their conference championships at the end of the regular season, with Clemson claiming the No. 2 seed in the ACC and Iowa State taking the No. 4 seed in the Big 12. In their final meets of the season, Clemson scored 196.425, while Iowa scored 196.350.
The Tigers are heading into this meet after leading all teams on vault in the ACC Championships. Molly Arnold matched her career high with a 9.950 on the floor, leading the team to a score of 49.525.
Clemson is known for its strong floor routines, but it has struggled with consistency on beam. In the ACC Championships, the team had to count a fall on the event for a deduction of 0.5 points.
With close scores in their final season meets, it is crucial that Clemson put up a high beam score to ensure a win against Iowa State. The lineup for the other three events has been solidified in recent meets, but the rotation for beam tends to change week by week for the Tigers.
As of right now, it is unknown who head coach Amy Smith will put in the lineup for the beam. While redshirt senior and all-around gymnast Rebecca Wells struggled on beam in the championship, freshman Quinn Kuhl tied her season best with a score of 9.800 in the ACC Championships after being out of the lineup for a month.
Looking at Iowa State, the team has put up three solid scores in the Big 12 Championships but has struggled on bars with a score of 48.900. In other meets, they have scored highest on the floor but have inconsistent showings on the bars throughout their season.
Despite an inconsistency on beam, the Tigers have competed well in their three other events. Clemson looks promising as they hope to advance to the second round of the program’s first-ever NCAA Championship. The Tigers will travel to Gainesville, Florida, to compete on Thursday at 2 p.m.
