With the rest of the UNC gymnastics team lined up around her shouting encouragement, Kaitlynn Hedelund stands facing the vault, calmly waiting for the judge’s signal. This past Saturday at North Carolina’s gymnastics meet against the Georgia Gymndogs, Hedelund, a freshman, competed in vault for only the third time in her college career.
RALEIGH, NC — Two events in and with a lead at the halfway mark, the North Carolina gymnastics team was cruising in the noisy Reynolds Coliseum, where screaming fans belted out the lyrics to Frozen’s “Let It Go” during a break between events.
Just a half point ahead of Towson University going into the final event of Sunday evening’s meet, the North Carolina gymnastics team did what it had been doing the entire evening — it stayed in the moment. And by remaining poised, they scored the win over Towson, West Chester and William & Mary en route to a season-high number of points.
In gymnastics, every point counts.
Classy, bullet-proof, passionate, lively and family.
The North Carolina gymnastics team ended the regular season Friday with one of its strongest performances of the year. The Tar Heels posted a team score of 194.775, their best away score this season and second-best all year.
The North Carolina gymnastics team was home. And when the Tar Heels are home, they don’t lose — at least they hadn’t until Friday.
Michelle Ikoma almost didn’t make it to Chapel Hill.
RALEIGH — For the North Carolina gymnastics team, consistency was the goal entering Saturday’s match against George Washington, N.C. State and William & Mary.
The saying goes that the third time’s the charm, but nobody told that to the North Carolina gymnastics team.
Undefeated at home. Best team score of the season. A first place all-around individual performer.
This season, senior Kristin Aloi had only competed in the floor routine for the North Carolina gymnastics team. But against Pittsburgh on Friday, Aloi replaced the injured freshman Christina Pheil on the vault.
If it is at all possible to have gymnastics swag, North Carolina senior gymnast and co-captain Michelle Ikoma has it.
Focus. That was the biggest issue for the North Carolina gymnastics team entering Sunday’s meet against Maryland.
Friday night’s meet at N.C. State was a first for freshman Christina Pheil.
The North Carolina gymnastics team showed flashes of its potential but couldn’t latch onto any form of consistency in Friday’s meet against N.C. State, Towson and No. 8 Michigan.
Before the North Carolina gymnastics team’s opening meet against rival N.C. State, redshirt junior Acacia Cosentino had not competed in two years. Disregarding any type of adversity, Cosentino calmly took a deep breath, relaxed herself and began her routine on the bars.
For the North Carolina gymnastics team, Sunday’s meet against N.C. State was a warm homecoming.
The feeling was all too familiar. For its second consecutive meet, the North Carolina gymnastics squad headed into the floor exercise feeling disappointed about its inconsistency on the balance beam.
The North Carolina gymnastics team has come a long way since the beginning of the season. But they won’t have to travel much farther to compete in Saturday’s East Atlantic Gymnastics League championship, which will be held in Chapel Hill for the first time since 2001.
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