CMU Gymnasts Open at Home on Jan. 3
10/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Cullen Maksimowski, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. — Coach Jerry Reighard and the Central Michigan gymnastics team will open the 2016 season at home on Jan. 3 with a non-league tri-meet with Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Temple.
CMU's schedule features five home meets, three of which will be against Mid-American Conference opponents.
CMU will open at home with a tri-meet with Temple and UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 3, followed up by at trip to Wisconsin for a rematch Eau Claire on Jan. 8.
The Chippewas will entertain Brigham Young on Jan. 15 in a non-conference dual. CMU won a three-team non-leaguer in the Cougars' gym last season.
"BYU has proven to be a powerful team in almost every sport," Reighard said. "They have a brand new head coach in gymnastics this year and they'll be looking for a little bit of revenge.
"I anticipate that to be a very tough meet for us midway through January when we're just starting to click."
Central Michigan goes to Northern Illinois for its MAC opener on Jan. 22, then returns home to face Ball State on Jan. 31. Another MAC dual follows on Feb. 5 at Eastern Michigan before CMU travels to Chicago to compete in the Navy Pier Invitational on Feb. 12.
"We travel to Chicago for a very prestigious Navy Pier Invitational which is going to help us in recruiting," Reighard said. "There will be about 3,000 age group recruitable athletes watching us there."
Back in the MAC, CMU will take on Western Michigan (Feb. 21) and Kent State (Feb. 28), both at home.
The Golden Flashes won the MAC Championships tournament last year, snapping a five-year CMU championship run. The Chippewas captured the regular-season MAC title for the first time since 2012.
The Chippewas wrap up their regular season on the road with MAC meets at Bowling Green on March 4 and at Eastern Michigan on March 11.
"I'm not happy about not being tournament champions so that's a little burr in my saddle that I'm going to be working towards, taking care of that business," Reighard said. "The last two weekends of February are going to be very crucial because at that point we are on the road, MAC team, MAC team, MAC team right before the Championship."
The MAC Championships are slated for March 19 at Ball State.
Among CMU's top returnees are seniors Taylor Bolender and Karlee Teet. Bolender was the 2015 MAC champion on the floor exercise. Teet received All-MAC Second Team honors and competed in the NCAA regional championships.
The Chippewas went in to the regional meet last season ranked 21st in the country and finished third, posting a 195.925 team score, the second-best regional total in CMU history.
The 2016 regionals are scheduled for April 2 at six sites: Michigan, Florida, Alabama, Utah, Iowa and Minneapolis. The 2016 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships are scheduled for April 15-17 at the Fort Worth (Texas) Convention Center Arena.
Players Mentioned
