Central Michigan University
UW-Eau Claire
Gymnastics Opens Season With a Win
1/3/2015 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
By Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - A win, yes.
But if the Central Michigan gymnastics team is to get where coach Jerry Reighard believes it can go, outscoring an opponent isn't enough.
Halle Moraw had three firsts and Kylie Fagan scored a 9.9 to win the uneven bars Saturday as the Chippewas opened the season with a 192.550-183.800 victory over Wisconsin Eau Claire at McGuirk Arena.
"I thought we were prepared," Reighard said. "We talked (Friday) night in our meeting about distractions that enter into your world. Their heads were not where they needed to be.
"I really felt that we were going to have a much better competition than the efforts that I saw from this team. I'm not really pleased with the execution mistakes that we made. For us to fall (three) times is just not acceptable with the aspirations that this team has for itself. You can't do that and be a successful program. And I think we have a lot of work to do in the next week."
The Chippewas entertain Illinois on Sunday, Jan. 11. Until then, the focus is on getting down to business and taking the requisite steps toward the ultimate goal, a berth in the NCAA Championships.
CMU came within a whisker of landing the first NCAA bid in program history last spring, and, with a veteran team hungry for another shot returning in 2015, those hopes are legitimate.
That's what made Saturday's performance all the more disheartening.
"Today was not what we expected or what he had worked for," said Moraw, a senior captain. "There were a lot of mistakes that I have not seen in practice. I felt the focus was gone throughout the whole meet from a lot of people, and that's something we really have to work on over this next week.
"It's going to be a long, tough week, but we want to go to nationals, we want to be that team to make history and in order to do that we have a lot of work to do."
Moraw won the balance beam with a 9.750 score and the vault with a 9.650. She shared first place with teammate Becca Druien on the floor exercise at 9.725.
From a numbers standpoint, the Chippewas were dominant as they outscored the Blugolds in all four events. The closest margin came on floor, where CMU was .950 better than Eau Claire. The Chippewas were a combined 3.525 points better on beam.
Despite that wide rotation-to-rotation gap, the numbers aren't nearly where they eventually need to be, Reighard said.
"We want to be that national (qualifying) team," he said, reiterating the Chippewas' No. 1 goal. "I think we were judged under that criteria today, which is not a bad thing, I'm not complaining about that, I think it's reality. These officials have all judged on the national floor, they know what it takes to get there, they know what our aspirations are and I think they gave us a wakeup call that if you want the numbers that are going to get you there, here's what you have to do.
"I'm not at all faulting them. I think it was a good reality check for us."
So too, he added, will be Illinois, a team that finished 11th in the NCAA Championships last season.
"That will be our test," Reighard said. "If there's anything good that we can say right now it would be that this was a good warmup for us. It'll be in our arena again next weekend, and it will be a different story, for sure. I think you'll see the true colors next weekend, and that weekend will tell the story."
Players Mentioned
