Feb. 4, 2005

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. - NC State and North Carolina will pair up to battle Towson and Maryland Saturday at the 10th annual Governor's Cup at 2 p.m. in Chapel Hill. The unusual matchup pits the two gymnastics programs from the state of North Carolina against the two teams from the state of Maryland.

The Tar Heels have won three of the last four Governor's Cup meets, and the state of North Carolina has been victorious for the past three years. The state of Maryland, however, leads the series 5-4, having won the meet every year between its inception in 1995 and 1998. The first time the state of North Carolina took the cup was in 1999.

The only undefeated team in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League, Carolina heads into the meet with a record of 8-0 coming off the school's first-ever win at the WVU Coliseum, home of the West Virginia Mountaineers. After ending the first two rotations with a deficit of 0.5 points, junior Courtney Bumpers led the Tar Heels in a comeback on balance beam and floor exercise to win 192.20-191.10. It was Carolina's first win over West Virginia since the Mountaineers narrowly defeated the Tar Heels at the 2004 EAGL Championships, 197.05-196.725.

Maryland, Carolina and NC State are ranked first, second and third, respictively, in the EAGL. Towson, a former EAGL member, joined the Eastern College Athletic Conference this year and is ranked at the top of the ECAC teams.

All three EAGL weekly awards went to teams competing at the Governor's Cup, as Carolina's Bumpers was named the Gymnast of the Week, NC State's Cori Goldstein the Specialist of the Week and Maryland's Gretchen Kittelberger the Rookie of the Week.

Towson's Christina Ghani earned ECAC Gymnast of the Week accolades while Decelia Willacy was the Rookie of the Week after the Tigers' home opening victory against Cornell last weekend. Coming off the 190.95-182.625 win over Cornell, Towson is 6-2. Ghani, who sat out most of 2004 with a knee injury, led the Tigers with an all-around title in her career-best performance.

Maryland (3-5) fell to No. 19 Penn State, 196.30-192.325, last Saturday in Penn State's highest scoring meet of the season. Despite strong performances on uneven bars and floor exercise, the Terrapins fell short of Penn State on every event.

NC State's Goldstein was the EAGL Specialist of the Week after capturing titles on floor exercise and balance beam in the Wolfpack's deciding victory over William & Mary and James Madison a week ago. NC State (5-1) swept every event to score a 192.875 in its home opener.

The Governor's Cup will be held at Carmichael Auditorium on Carolina's campus at 2 p.m. Saturday.