Gymnastics Trio Heads to Nationals

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Staying on the beam, and staying on track.

Ultimately, the goal of the Central Michigan University gymnastics program – or any athletic program, for that matter – is to get better, to make positive strides.

No, the Chippewas did not qualify as a team for the NCAA Championships. But a trio of CMU student-athletes – Taylor Noonan, Halle Moraw and Emily Heinz – are headed to the finals this weekend in Birmingham, Ala.

The trio will compete on Friday in the second session of the semifinals which are set to begin at 7 p.m. Heinz is in the third rotation after Alabama, Moraw in the fourth rotation after Florida and Noonan is going in the fifth rotation after Nebraska.

They are the first CMU gymnasts to qualify for nationals since Sara Burtinsky in 2004, and their feat came during a third-place team finish at the regional, CMU’s best showing at that level since 2003.

A worthy accomplishment, absolutely, and one made all the more remarkable by the fact that all three will compete in one event, the balance beam.

“It definitely is an extraordinary thing to have happen,” said Jerry Reighard, who is in his 30th year as the Chippewas’ coach and a is man who knows the ins and outs of the sport perhaps as well as anybody in the country. “The NCAA, I think, was even thrown for a loop because I don’t think this has ever happened that they’ve had three people from one school that they’ve had to contend with on one event.

“I think it just goes to show you how strong our beam team is. They’ve done exceptional things over the past 12 months.”

And they’ve done it in an event that is as physically and mentally demanding as any of the four events that comprise collegiate gymnastics.

The combination of the physical demands, the level of concentration required, and the element of danger are omnipresent.

“Beam is a scary event for a lot of people, and I like a little scare here and there,” Marow said. “The beam’s only 4 inches wide. Those who are mentally tough, those who aren’t scared, are the ones who shine on beam.

“You have to be able to control your adrenaline. You can’t be up there going too hard, going too fast. You just have to be in a rhythm.”

That rhythm comes when a gymnast finds her mental and physical zone, an absolute must for success on beam.

“There is that extra concentration because if you’re feeling a little slow on vault, or a little slow on floor, you can just run harder,” said Noonan, a junior who was the Mid-American Conference champion on beam as a freshman, and has finished runner-up in the event in each of the last two league championships. “But with beam, it’s more of a controlled attack and it’s knowing where your body is at all times.

“I think that’s something that Heinz, Halle and I have gotten really good at. Even if something’s off, you have to be in the moment. You can’t think ahead, or you can’t think behind, because then you’re falling.

“It takes that 100 percent focus for a minute. A minute, that’s all a beam routine really is. It’s hard. More than anything, it’s mental.”

Heinz, Noonan and Moraw each scored 9.85 in the event at the regional, sharing the top spot with three other gymnasts.

Moraw was third and Heinz fourth on beam at the MAC Championships nearly a month ago, helping the Chippewas win their record fifth consecutive league title.

Heinz, a senior co-captain, said she was disappointed with that fourth-place finish, but winning the regional and qualifying for nationals has more than made up for it.
Most importantly, she said, she learned a valuable lesson at the league championships.

“I think I went into MACs with the mindset of ‘I wanna win,’” she said. “And in regionals, I went out there just to have fun and do my routine. And I think that worked, that paid off.

“They always talk about not changing your mindset, but I wanted to win MACs on beam because it’s been my best event since I’ve been here.

“It was my last opportunity for that and I think I pressed. I think I learned from that. At regionals, it was just to go out there and enjoy it because it could have been my last meet.”

Instead, the last meet for Heinz will be on college gymnastics’ ultimate stage, the NCAA Championships.

“It’s incredible,” she said. “I’m blessed that I get this opportunity. It’s kind of like a dream come true.”

Beam, Reighard said, is generally looked upon in coaching circles as a hold-your-breath event. The thinking, he said, is don’t mess up, maintain, and do your big scoring in other events.

“Notoriously beam is one of those events where coaches are just happy if you stay on and you don’t give away the big deduction,” he said.
Not so at CMU, Reighard said.

“We developed the philosophy that staying on the beam is expected,” he said. “You’re not going to get the pat on the back for staying on. You’ve got to do it with style and grace and the beam team probably puts more time in on that event than we do on any other event.”

Assistant coach Christine MacDonald has played a major role in the development of CMU gymnasts in the event. Possessing the talent is a good start, adding the mental toughness is equally as crucial.

“it really is a testament to Christine and the ability she’s had to mold these athletes, in some cases convincing them to make sure that they’re self-talk is correct, that they’re in the right zone,” Reighard said.

Which is of ever-increasing importance as the event has evolved and become more demanding, he said.

“It was not too long ago that some of the skills that we’re doing on beam now were only done on floor,” Reighard said. “And so the expectation, the level of skill, has really gone through the roof. And not many people have the awareness to be able to find the beam when they’re flipping and twisting in the air, and then to land successfully.”

The career best for both Noonan and Heinz in the event is 9.925, tying them with several others for the fifth-best score in school history.

Both reached that number this season. Telling about the difficulty of beam is the fact that all the scores ahead of them on the school’s all-time list came in 2005 or earlier.
The arrival of Noonan three years ago helped to precipitate the advancement, Reighard said.

“Taylor Noonan really started it as a freshman when she was MAC champion in this event,” he said. “That really instilled in her the fact that she’s extraordinary in that sense of the gymnastics world, she was the best of 42 on any given day.

“I think that really lent a lot of confidence to her, and then the rest of the team has to keep pace with that. So if you’re keeping pace with Taylor Noonan and you’re an Emily Heinz or a Halle Moraw and you want to be the best … well you’re working against the best every day. And those three have become very good at challenging each other every day.”

Those challenges keep coming, not only for the likes of Heinz, Moraw and Noonan, but for their teammates, and the entire program.

Sending three gymnasts to nationals is a major step forward, and it comes on the heels of an outstanding showing at the regional, where the Chippewas finished within a point of qualifying as a team for the nationals.

“More than anything I’d rather be going there as a team than I would individually,” Noonan said. “But I think this is a good steppingstone because Halle and I are both juniors. Next year it’s just going to give the team even more push, and the belief that it’s going to happen next year.”

Said Reighard: “I think it’s going to be one of those building blocks for our program for the future.”

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