Chippewa Gymnasts Head West
2/26/2015 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Central Michigan gymnastics team is taking a break from the Mid-American Conference.
But it isn't taking a break from good competition, or its quest toward its ultimate goal.
The Chippewas, who are 8-3 and lead the MAC at 4-1, will partake in a quad meet Friday night at California Davis along with Iowa and Sacramento State. CMU will go to Brigham Young next weekend, then face Western Michigan in its final MAC dual meet on March 15.
A long late-season trip for a quad meet is something CMU coach Jerry Reighard attempts to schedule annually.
"This is something I try to do, especially with these two weeks away from the MAC," he said, "I want to get our team exposed to as many regional- and national-style teams as we can.
"The quad meet is always something I try to get, especially in the latter part of the season, because it starts getting us in tune with block-style rotation and four-style events and that makes a big difference for us. BYU is another tough opponent, and that's what we want."
The Chippewas are ranked 24th and Iowa is 27th. In the RPI, Iowa and the Chippewas are 34th and 35th, respectively, while UC Davis is 29th, and BYU 22nd.
CMU is coming off a MAC victory in its home finale Sunday over Bowling Green. The Chippewas posted a 196.125 score, their second straight 196-plus performance and third of the season.
Two Chippewas, Kylie Fagan and Halle Moraw, are ranked individually in the top 10 in the Central Region by troester.com, the information clearinghouse for college gymnastics.
Fagan is ranked second in uneven parallel bars, while Moraw is fourth on floor exercise and eighth on balance beam. Moraw is the reigning MAC gymnast of the week, marking the fourth time she has earned that honor this season.
The Chippewas have scored consistently well on floor exercise, bars and vault in their past two meets. But Reighard has been disappointed, he said, in their beam performance. He said his athletes are well aware that they need to score better on beam, particularly as the MAC Championships and NCAA Regionals near.
"They are not satisfied at all," he said. "It's not just a coaching thing, there's a lot of pride in those athletes also."
Reighard said this weekend's meet and next are important as the Chippewas continue to build.
"This is what I call perseverance time," he said. "The athletes and the teams that continue to go to practice to get better, to go to meets, to move their national standings, those are the athletes and teams that will actually do that.
"This is where we traditionally start making our move. That's what I hope is going to happen. I really don't think that we're going to explode on three events, but I think we can explode on balance beam. I think we can make a big difference there, which will improve our overall team score."
Players Mentioned
