Central Michigan University Athletics
Gymnastics Returns Five MAC Champions
10/4/2002 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Oct. 4, 2002
Head coach Jerry Reighard enters his 19th season at the helm of the Central Michigan University gymnastics team.
The Chippewas are coming off a successful 2002 campaign with an 18-13 overall, and 9-3 Mid-American Conference record.
Although CMU placed second at the MAC Championship, four gymnasts won an event and earned All-MAC first team honors.
CMU returns five MAC champions to the 2003 squad, four of them coming from last year's campaign.
Central's four sophomores will be looked on to keep consistency in 2003. Shanna Duggan (Sault Ste. Marie, Ont./So.), Kara Reighard (Mount Pleasant/So.), and Sara Burtinsky (Oshawa, Ont./So.) competed in each of Central's 13 meets including two postseason meets in 2002. Laura McLaren (Unionville, Ont./So.) missed only the first two meets and competed in the next 11, including the MAC Championship and NCAA Regionals.
Kara Reighard was CMU's first gymnast to earn MAC "Freshman Gymnast of the Year" honors. She earned the title while tying the school record in the all-around and taking first place at the MAC Championship with a 39.425. She will be counted on heavily in the all-around in 2003.
The team gains three freshmen and two University of Massachusetts transfers for 2003.
Mattie Crawford (Plymouth, Minn./Orono), Stephanie Langley (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park), and Amy Urbank (Collins, N.Y./Gowanda Central) are the newest to the college gymnastics scene while Katie Teft (Grand Rapids/Forest Hills Central) and Megan Donoghue (Tewksbury, Mass./Tewksbury Memorial) transfer from UMass.
In the past 18 years, Reighard has been named the MAC "Coach of the Year" four times. Under Reighard, the Chippewas have earned eight MAC titles.
Reighard's current record stands at 233-139-2 overall, 99-32 MAC.
Christine MacDonald enters her ninth year as assistant coach while Debbie Milligan enters her third year.
LEADER OF THE MAC: Bethany Couturier (Grand Rapids/Sr.) returns as the MAC leader on the balance beam. She scored a 9.950 at the Wolfpack Invitational. She won the beam event at the MAC Championship and earned All-MAC first team honors. She holds the school record on the beam and ties the school record in the all-around with a 39.425 set in 2000.
RECOGNIZED: Kara Reighard was named MAC "Freshman Gymnast of the Year" in 2002. She won the all-around event and tied CMU's all-around school record at the MAC Championship with a 39.425. Reighard also tied for second on beam and bars, tied for third on vault, and tied for seventh on floor at the MAC Championship.
Reighard was named "Gymnast of the Week" three times in her freshman year.
GRACING THE GYM: Michele Orloski (Clifton Park, N. Y./Sr.) is known for her grace and flexiblity especially on the floor exercise. She tied for first on the floor event at the MAC Championship with a 9.900 and earned All-MAC first team honors. She also placed tied for 11th on the vault with a 9.775. Her top score in the floor exercise was a 9.950 posted in 2001.
FIERCE COMPETITOR: Sarah Dame (Maple City/Sr.) is a strong competitor in the all-around for the Chippewas. Dame was the MAC all-around champion in 2001, and scored over a 39.000 three times in 2002.
Dame competed in all 11 meets and two postseason meets for CMU in 2002, and placed in the top-three of all-arounders five times.
Dame posted season-highs of 9.800 on the beam and 9.900 on the floor last year.
JOINING THE CLUB: Katie Teft and Megan Donoghue come to CMU as seniors when UMass dropped its program after the 2002 season. They enter the lineup as seniors.
Teft holds the school record at UMass on the uneven bars (9.975) and on the balance beam (9.925). She ranks fourth all-time in the all-around (39.175). Teft won the bars event at the Atlantic Championship in 2002 and placed third on the beam.
Donoghue ranks eighth all-time at UMass in the all-around (38.675). At the 2002 Atlantic Championship, Donoghue placed fourth in the all-around with a 38.350.
THE LONE JUNIOR: Tiffani Berra (Bay City/Jr.) is the only junior on the 2003 squad. She is a floor specialist for CMU. Berra posted a season-high 9.875 on the floor at the NCAA Regionals at Louisiana State.
Berra competed in all 11 meets and two postseason meets on the floor for the Maroon and Gold.
CANADIAN CONNECTION: Three of the Chippewa sophomores hail from Ontario, Canada and have all made an impact in the arena.
Shanna Duggan made her mark in the CMU lineup as a freshman. Duggan performed in 13 meets on the vault and beam, and 12 meets on the floor.
She won the vault event a the MAC Championship and earned All-MAC first team honors. Duggan also tied for second on the beam (9.825) and tied for 12th on the floor with a 9.850.
Duggan is tied for third on the vault and tied for fourth on the beam in the CMU record book.
She nailed a season-high 9.900 on the vault, beam, and floor in her freshman campaign.
Sara Burtinsky started the 2002 season as an all-arounder, then moved on to specialize in the vault, bars, and beam for the rest of the season. As a freshman, Burtinsky scored season-highs of 9.675 on vault, 9.850 on bars, 9.875 on beam, 9.600 on floor, and 37.900 in the all-around.
Laura McLaren competed on the floor exercise and was counted on consistently for her work on the uneven bars in 2002. She tallied a season-high 9.825 on bars and a 9.850 on the floor.
HEALTHY AGAIN: Tiffany Dykstra (Lemars, Iowa/Fr.) missed the 2002 season due to a knee injury. She underwent surgery and took a medical redshirt. Dykstra is looking to compete in 2003.
TEAM NOTES: Central Michigan qualified for the NCAA Regional tournament for the third time in four years in 2002. The team scored a 193.675, good for fourth place.
According to the GYM-Info Rankings (3/25/02), Central ranked 25th in the country with a regional qualifying average of 195.090. CMU was the only MAC school in the top-25. The team also ranked 21st on the floor exercise with a 49.210.
