Central Michigan University
Temple
Gymnasts Win Opener
1/3/2016 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - As season openers go, this one was pretty typical.
Except when it wasn't.
Freshman Kasey Janowicz won the all-around and Central Michigan swept all four rotations Sunday as the Chippewas (193.425) defeated Temple (188.850) in a non-conference gymnastics dual at McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas sustained a major blow when senior Kiki Petzold was injured prior to the meet. Petzold, a veteran on whom long-time coach Jerry Reighard was counting this season, had been slated to compete on vault and floor exercise on Sunday.
"That was a tough thing and we had to scramble a little bit to figure out what we were going to do," Reighard said.
Janowicz, competing for the first time as a collegian, won the all-around with a 38.975 score. She was second on vault, third on floor exercise, fourth on balance beam and fifth on uneven parallel bars.
"I felt like I had the pressure to not only prove to myself, but prove to my team that I can step in when I need to and hit my routine," Janowicz said. "Yes I was nervous, but I like nerves and I like pressure. It all works."
CMU's Karlee Teet (9.825) won vault, Bryttany Kaplan (9.85) captured bars, Jordan Charrette (9.80) won the balance beam, and Taylor Bolender and Kirstin Stambaugh (9.850) shared first place on floor.
The Chippewas recorded their best score on floor, 48.975. They posted a 48.900 on bars, 48.375 on vault, and a disappointing 47.175 on beam.
"Vaulting, It was a mediocre day for us," Reighard said. "Bars, it was what I fully expected; floor was a great day; and things really crashed down on us on balance beam. That's an event that we know is the maker, it's the breaker.
"We certainly have a lot of work to do. It's not like we need to learn tricks, we've just got to learn to be balanced."
Charrette went in the sixth (final) spot on beam. Her 9.800 was a career-best and by far the Chippewas' best of the day. Four of CMU's six scores on beam were 9.30 or below.
"Our entire balance-beam squad has really no returners," said Reighard, who added that it isn't unusual for a team to turn in a sub-par performance in beam in the first meet of the season. "That's not an excuse and I wouldn't even give that group that excuse to cling to, because they are capable. But we could see the jitters today.
"I don't like to give excuses to one event over another, but it is something that you can tend to overthink on balance beam. Yes, that's (beam) probably where the jitters usually come out."
The Chippewas go to the Wisconsin-Eau Claire quad on Friday, Jan. 8 (7 p.m.). Winona State and Wisconsin-Whitewater round out the field.
Last season, the Chippewas scored 192.550 in their season-opening meet. They topped the 196 mark in their fourth event of the season.
"All in all I think the team really learned a lot," Reighard said. "We've been telling this team since last September that they're a 196 team and when you throw two points away on balance beam on just hitting the floor, that puts you darned close.
"The other things are first-meet jitters that I think we can take care of. I think this is a very talented group, but it's also a pretty inexperienced group."
"I'm not happy with the score because we're fighting for a national ranking and we had a great opportunity to be 195-plus or close to 196, which really would have put us where I think we deserve to be. We've got the talent to do that. The team, they've already started to understand that each meet is very critical and I think that's been emphasized now."
Players Mentioned
