Central Michigan University Athletics
Gymnastics Looks to Bounce Back at Northern Illinois
1/26/2006 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Jan. 26, 2006
Complete Release (including MAC standings) in PDF Format
Download Free Acrobat Reader
CMU Gymnastics This Week
at Northern Illinois Huskies (1-1, 1-0 MAC)
Sunday, January 29 at 2 p.m. CST
NIU Convocation Center
First of three meetings between CMU and NIU in 2006 ... both will compete at the Masters Classic at Nebraska next month ... NIU freshman Leah Johnson was MAC Gymnast of the Week on Jan. 16 after posting a 38.725 in the all-around vs. UIC.
MOUNT PLEASANT - The Central Michigan University gymnastics team finds itself in an unfamiliar position this week, looking to rebound from a loss in a Mid-American Conference dual meet. CMU's 189.325-187.950 defeat at Bowling Green last Saturday ended a streak of 22 straight conference wins that dated back to Jan. 19, 2002, when BG also knocked off CMU 194.225-192.200.
"We found out that being ready to compete is very different than being prepared to compete," CMU head coach Jerry Reighard said. "This week, we have practiced to be prepared to compete when we face off against Northern Illinois on Sunday.
"Unfortunately, there's no making up for the loss to Bowling Green, but we don't want it to happen again. We need to compete like we practice, and that's what we're aiming for this week." CMU put together a solid performance on the vault against BG, scoring a 48.400, but struggled with numerous falls and missteps in the other three events.
"Our vaulting was our bright spot," Reighard said. "Everything we expected was there on that event. Sheena (Smith) and Mattie (Crawford) finished 1-2 for us, and we were consistent all through the lineup on vault."
The meet against the Falcons was CMU's first competition of the season, and Reighard acknowledged that, despite the best efforts of the coaching staff and the athletes, there was no way to put the team into a position that replicated the pressure of actual competition.
"It's absolutely a night and day difference between a meet and practice or even an intrasquad event," Reighard said. "Even though the athlete wants to improve every day and the coaches push the athletes for that improvement, there's no reality to it. It's still practice, and you can come to the gym and redeem yourself tomorrow if you struggled today.
"In our sport, you don't get three chances to gain ten yards or three strikes before you're out. You get one chance to hit your vault or your tumbling pass. The reality of competition is that at the end of it, there's either a win or a loss. That means something. You simply cannot simulate that. We do everything we can to create that environment, but you just can't come close to replicating it."
CMU will try to correct its opening-meet errors this weekend when it travels to DeKalb, Ill. to take on Northern Illinois. The Huskies opened their schedule almost two weeks ago with a triangular meet against Illinois-Chicago and Ball State. Their win over Ball State in that meet got them off to a 1-0 start in the MAC. NIU has not competed since that meet on Jan. 15.
"NIU is a very improved team over the last few years," Reighard said. "They really are a very balanced team. There's not a superstar, but they'll be very consistent in putting up 9.5's and 9.6's on each event. That means that we need to score 9.6's and 9.7's. The key will be not having to count falls. We can't make any big mistakes, because NIU will capitalize on them."
The dual meet with Northern Illinois will start at 2 p.m. CST on Sunday, Jan. 29.
Chippewas Picked As MAC Favorites: Central Michigan University was selected as the favorite during the regular season in the preseason poll, as voted on by the league's head coaches. The Chippewas were picked over Kent State, the champions in 2005. Northern Illinois finished third in the preseason poll.
-###-
