Chippewas Open at Home on Jan. 8
10/4/2016 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The focus, even some three months before the season-opener, is on March and the Mid-American Conference Championships and a potential trip to the NCAA Regional.
That focus might be a little sharper as the Central Michigan gymnastics team approaches the 2017 season, which opens on Jan. 8 with a non-conference home tri-meet with Wisconsin-Eau Claire and Hamline.
A week later, the Chippewas go Western Michigan for the MAC opener; five days later, they entertain Eastern Michigan in another league dual. The schedule was released last week.
CMU finished 12-3 a year ago; two of those losses came to Eastern Michigan, which last spring won its first MAC championship since 2007. In the intervening nine years, CMU was first at the MAC Championships five times and three times captured the league regular-season title.
CMU was third in the regular-season standings a year ago and finished fourth at the 2016 MAC Championships. Neither result was in line with the expectations of longtime coach Jerry Reighard.
"The whole schedule is designed to get us ready for the MAC Championships," Reighard said. "Along the way there's also a regular-season title. We're very cognizant of that.
"We have to get back to the stature that we're not afraid of any MAC school and our mental temperament right now is we're leery as a team. They're a little gun shy. They want to say, 'We're going to dominate.' But we're not in a position right now in October where we really know. The challenge is to be ready."
In addition to EMU, the Chippewas will face MAC foes Bowling Green and Northern Illinois at McGuirk Arena in 2017. Illinois State and Rutgers are slated to visit Mount Pleasant for non-league duals.
The Chippewas will compete at Ball State and at Kent State in MAC duals, and will also partake in the Metroplex Challenge on Jan. 28 in Fort Worth, Texas. The four-team field includes George Washington, Bowling Green and San Jose State.
"It's on a podium which means it's the same gym setup that the national championships are, it's an Olympic setup," Reighard said. "CMU's never competed on a podium before so I think it'll be another good experience."
The MAC Championships are scheduled for March 18 at Bowling Green.