CMU Gymnasts Head West, Again
3/6/2015 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Central Michigan gymnastics will make its second consecutive western trip this weekend as it enters the stretch run of the 2015 season.
The destination this time is Provo, Utah, for a Friday night tri-meet at Brigham Young. Utah State is the third team involved. The Chippewas are 8-4-1 after finishing second in a tri-meet last weekend at California Davis.
CMU posted a 194.150 in that meet after having posted 196-plus totals in its previous two.
"Most teams in the nation would be really happy when they score a 194," CMU coach Jerry Reighard said. "We're not one of those teams.
"We didn't perform the best that we could perform, but I thought there were highlights. There were things that we needed to experience. We need to experience that out-of-Olympic order rotation, which hasn't been kind to us, we haven't competed well.
"But, you don't know what you're going to get in postseason, so I think perhaps this is what we needed to experience."
The Chippewas started on balance beam at UC Davis, and the event has been a battle for CMU all season. The Chippewas' season average on beam is 48.225, their lowest average among the four events. At UC Davis, the Chippewas scored 47.700.
"It was just one of those times that we weren't on our game and hopefully it was a good learning experience for us to get mentally more prepared," Reighard said. "We may very well draw to start on balance beam at regionals. So maybe this experience was really worthwhile."
The Chippewas close the regular season on Sunday, March 15, with a Mid-American Conference meet at Western Michigan. The MAC Championships are Saturday, March 21, at Kent State.