Central Michigan University Athletics
Gymnastics Travels to Alabama for NCAA Regionals
4/1/2011 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
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MOUNT PLEASANT - The Central Michigan gymnastics team competes in its third straight NCAA Regional Championship this weekend.
The Chippewas, the 25th-ranked team in the nation, are a part of the Tuscaloosa Regional which is set for Saturday, April 2, at 7 p.m. The regional is being hosted by the University of Alabama and will take place in Coleman Coliseum.
The other teams at the regional are No. 2 Alabama, No. 11 Penn State, No. 14 Illinois, No. 22 Auburn and Kentucky.
This is the first time that CMU has made three straight regional appearances, and the squad is looking to accomplish another first this weekend: a trip to the NCAA National Championships. The top two teams in each region qualify for the national championships which are set for Cleveland, Ohio on April 15-17.
"One of our goals all season was to qualify for the national championships for the first time in school history," CMU head coach Jerry Reighard. "We have been working toward that goal since last fall, and I feel we are ready. We know we are at the same level as the other teams competing on Saturday, and it is just a matter of us performing the way we are capable of."
This year's regional meet will have a familiar feel for the Chippewas. CMU competed at Alabama in the 2009 Northeast Regional while the Chippewas faced Alabama, Illinois and Kentucky at last year's Central Regional hosted by UK.
"I feel competing at Alabama is a big advantage for us because we are very familiar with the setup there," Reighard said. "I think our team is going to be comfortable competing there because they know what to expect and what the atmosphere will be like. I also think it is a big advantage competing against teams we are familiar with because it helps our team stay focused. In fact, we even watched Penn State on TV at the Big Ten Championships so our gymnasts could see what type of team they are."
The Chippewas also got a great draw in the rotation order. CMU starts the meet on a bye and then moves to bars. Next is beam with another bye in rotation four. The squad finishes the meet on two of its strongest events, floor and vault.
"We feel our rotation really sets up well for us, and that is another reason we are so confident heading into this meet," Reighard said. "Being able to finish on floor and vault is really important because those have always been two of our higher-scoring events. It is critical we get off to a good start on bars, but the nice thing about being on the road so much this season is our team is used to starting a meet on bars."
Reighard noticed a difference in his team as they prepared for this regional compared to the past couple of years.
"We have been pretty relaxed and focused in practice the past two weeks," Reighard said. "Usually there is a lot of nervous energy in the room leading up to regionals, but this group is very confident in their abilities. We are really just treating this as a regular meet and preparing the same way we would for any meet."
Back-to-Back MAC Champions - CMU won back-to-back Mid-American Conference Championships this season, as the host Chippewas took first at the conference championship meet on March 19.
CMU scored a season-high 195.900 to win the meet, its record 12th MAC championship. Kent State finished second with a 195.050 while Western Michigan took third (194.150).
Three Chippewas captured individual MAC titles. Kristin Teubner led CMU with three titles, winning beam (9.990) and the all-around (39.325) outright while sharing the floor title (9.875) with teammate Cheryl Conlin and Ball State's Nicole Allen. True freshman Brittany Petzold won bars with a 9.850 and finished third in the all-around.
Teubner Named MAC Co-Gymnast of the Year - Central Michigan junior Kristin Teubner was named the Mid-American Conference Co-Gymnast of the Year following the conference championship meet. This is the third time that a Central Michigan gymnast has won this award. Selina Nickason won it in 1998 and Kara Reighard received the award in 2005. Teubner shared the award with Christine Lenny of Kent State.
MAC Regular Season Champs - The Chippewas went 6-0 in conference action this year, capturing the MAC regular season championship. This is the first time since 2004-05 that CMU has gone undefeated in conference regular season meets and won the title outright. CMU's last regular season title came in 2007 when the Chippewas shared it with Kent State.
Coaching Milestone - CMU head coach Jerry Reighard earned his 400th career win at the CMU Quadrangular earlier this season. Reighard has an overall record of 409-199-3. Reighard is in his 27th season and is also 190-49 in conference meets.
At the NCAA Regional Championships - This is the eighth time that CMU has qualified for regionals and the first time that CMU has appeared in the event in three straight seasons, taking fourth in its last two appearances. The Chippewas best finish was a tie for second in 2003 with CMU losing the tiebreaker to Auburn for a spot at nationals.
Nationally Ranked Again - An outstanding performance at the MAC Championships helped Central Michigan gymnastics crack the national top 25 for the first time this season. The Chippewas are ranked 25th after winning the conference meet for the second straight season. The rankings are compiled using each team's Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) and CMU sports an RQS of 195.190. This is the third straight season that Central Michigan has reached the top 25. CMU ended the 2009 season ranked 23rd and it finished last year with a ranking of 22nd.
