Central Michigan University Athletics
Central Michigan University
NCAA Central Regional
Gymnasts Have Strong Showing at NCAA Regional
4/8/2006 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
April 8, 2006
BATON ROUGE, La. - Three Central Michigan University gymnasts put forth strong efforts on their individual events at the NCAA Central Regional here at Louisiana State University tonight. Senior Mattie Crawford, junior Jules Passy and sophomore Danielle Espinoza competed as individuals at LSU's Maravich Center. Crawford placed in a tie for third out of 42 competitors on the vault with a 9.850, while Espinoza finished tied for 18th on the floor exercise with a score of 9.800 and Passy finished 29th on the balance beam with a 9.575.
"This was a great night for Central Michigan gymnastics," CMU head coach Jerry Reighard said. "All three of the athletes that came here hit their routines, and Mattie got onto the awards stand with her third-place finish on vault. I'm very proud of how all three of them competed tonight."
Crawford capped off her career as a Chippewa in grand fashion with her top-three placing at the regional. She stuck her landing on her final collegiate vault, narrowly missing out on advancing to the NCAA Championships. Krystle Cook of Kentucky won the vault with a 9.900, just edging out LSU's Kelly Phelan who came in second with a score of 9.875.
No. 6-ranked Oklahoma and No.7-ranked LSU were the two teams that advanced from the Central Regional to the NCAA Championships at Oregon State University on April 20-22. In order for an individual not on either of those two squads to make the NCAA meet, the individual would need to win an event or finish as one of the top two all-arounders not from the qualifying teams. Mattie would have needed to win the vault to compete at the NCAA's, which Cook will now do despite Kentucky not qualifying as a team.
Espinoza had a great routine that netted her a score which placed her in the top half of the 42 competitors. LSU's Phelan took first on floor with a 9.925. In all, 23 competitors scored a 9.800 or better on floor.
"Danielle performed great tonight," Reighard said. "We moved one of her tumbling passes to the very end of the routine, and she hit it cleanly and that helped her finish with a high score."
Passy performed a clean routine on beam, with only a few slight wobbles, but in a competition as close as the regional even a single balance check might be too much. Oklahoma's Haley DeProspero captured the victory on beam with a 9.875.
"All in all, I think we had the best competition of any of the Mid-American Conference schools that had individuals competing (Eastern Michigan, Kent State and Western Michigan all had individual competitors at the regional)" Reighard said. "We didn't have any falls and our athletes performed three very good routines. The pressure of the meet didn't get to them, and they should be proud of their accomplishments, both in making it here and in the way they performed at this meet."
The gymnastics season is now completed for 2006. Crawford and fellow senior Stephanie Langley close the books on a career in which they were a part of two MAC Championship teams and two teams that finished second at the MAC meet. Langley was an individual MAC champion on the floor exercise in 2004, and Crawford has a podium finish at the NCAA regionals to end her career.
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