Gymnastics Finishes Third at MAC Championships
3/31/2007 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
For the second year in a row, no Chippewa won an individual MAC title. CMU had runner-up finishes from Sheena Smith, Danielle Espinoza and Jules Passy. Freshmen all-arounders Katie Simon and Laura Rogers were both named second team All-MAC.
“We said many times that the only team that could beat us was us, and that’s what happened today,” CMU head coach Jerry Reighard said. “Certainly,
After sitting out the first rotation of the meet, CMU opened competition on vault in the second rotation. It had a solid performance on that event, with all six gymnasts scoring between 9.650 and 9.775. Smith had the high mark of 9.775, which placed her third individually on vault. Simon earned a score of 9.725, and Jessica Neel hit for a 9.700. CMU’s team total of 48.525 on vault ended up in a tie for the second-best team score on the event.
“Sheena had a great effort in the final meet of her career,” Reighard said. “She didn’t earn the highest marks of her career, but both of her routines were as good as some that have earned bigger scores in the past. To finish her career with two top-three finishes should be very satisfying.”
CMU had a bye in the third rotation, then returned for the fourth rotation to compete on the uneven bars. It was forced to count a fall after two gymnasts missed on their routines. Smith was once again CMU’s top finisher, scoring 9.800 to finish second on bars behind
“We started out well on vault, but after having a fall on the first bars routine, things got tight,” Reighard said. “After the second fall, I knew that we were going to face long odds to get in position to win the meet.”
The Chippewas had time to regroup with a bye on the fifth rotation before taking to the balance beam in the penultimate rotation. On beam, CMU responded with its second-best score of 48.825 as a team, with five of its six gymnasts scoring over 9.725 on beam. Espinoza took third individually with a career-high score of 9.825. Freshman Jessica Suder took sixth with a mark of 9.775, while Rogers and Simon tied for seventh with their scores of 9.750. Jessica Neel finished in a tie for 10th with a 9.725.
“After our performance on the bars, we needed to get refocused,” Reighard said. “We talked about the last two events being our second half, and we had to do the best we could on beam and floor to try and get back in the meet.”
CMU finished the meet on the floor exercise, where Espinoza and Passy earned a tie for second with routines that earned them scores of 9.800. Simon hit for a 9.775 that was good for a seventh-place tie. Suder and Rogers finished their first conference championship meet strong with scores of 9.725 and 9.700, respectively. Despite scoring the highest team total of 48.800 on the floor, the Chippewas were unable to make up deficits to Eastern Michigan and Kent State and had to settle for third place overall.
“Dani has matured so much from last year, and she was not at all affected by what was going on around her,” Reighard said. “I admire what she did today. Her beam routine was one of the best I’ve ever seen her do, and her floor routine was, in my opinion, the best of the meet.”
Jenna Tarkington (Ball State, 9.825 on vault), Kristin Peters (Kent State, 9.875 on uneven bars and 9.900 on balance beam), Amy Cucinotta (Kent State, 9.850 on floor exercise), and Jolene Worley (EMU, 39.175 in the all-around) were the individual champions and made up the All-MAC first team, along with all-around runner-up Kelly Watson (Ball State, 38.900). Rogers and Simon were joined on the second team by Northern Illinois’ Leah Johnson (38.650), Western Michigan’s Jennifer Sturgis (38.600) and
“Katie and Laura both showed the kind of competitiveness and composure that are going to carry not only themselves, but our program in the next few years,” Reighard said. “I see a great future for both them and us as we move forward.”
Simon and Rogers are both likely to earn a spot at the NCAA Regionals as all-arounders, as is Smith on the vault. Official announcements of regional qualifiers will be made by the NCAA on Monday.
CMU wraps up its season with a record of 16-10 overall and 9-3 against MAC opponents.