Chippewas Surge on Vault, Win Chicago Style Meet

Friday, February 12

Chicago, Ill.

8:30 PM

Central Michigan University

IGI Chicago Style Meet

2/13/2016 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics

Feb. 13, 2016

Stats

Zach Libby, CMUChippewas.com

CHICAGO -- The location was Navy Pier within the city of Chicago. The topic of interest was a hungry Northern Illinois team that held a slim .075-point lead over Central Michigan heading into the final rotation.

For the Chippewas, the final event was the vault, one of the more scrutinized areas for the team throughout the season.

What was different about the vault for CMU on Friday night was that coach Jerry Reighard implemented significant lineup changes, and he chose not to tell his vaulters that they were running behind the Huskies and instead his message was to focus on only what they trained in practice leading up to the final quad-meet of the season.

Headlined by freshman Kasey Janowicz, who won with a 9.875, the Chippewas posted a season-best 48.975 in the event, proving the kryptonite to Northern Illinois' upset bid at the IGI Chicago Style Meet. The Chippewas finished with 195.125, while the Huskies finished second with 194.200.

Temple and Alaska-Anchorage, the other two teams in the quad, finished at 192.325 and 190.375, respectively.

The Chippewas improved to 10-1 on the season and now turn their attention exclusively to Mid-American Conference duals and the MAC Championships, which are scheduled for March 19 at Ball State.

"We made a lot of championship-winning decisions," Reighard said. "Not all of them paid off, but this was the time and meet to do those things. I also saw more fight in this group than I've seen in previous meets.

"We were down and could have been out, but the team didn't allow that to happen."

CMU gymnasts finished first in all four events: Janowicz took the floor exercise (9.900), Katy Clements won the balance beam (9.900), and Bryttany Kaplan shared first place on uneven parallel bars with NIU's Lauren Africano (9.875).

Janowicz won the all-around, finishing at 38.825. It was the first time in five meets that finished below 39.000.

"She was very frustrated," Reighard said. "It's better to have it happen now and that's what I told her, you don't want it happening on March 19 when it really is on the line."

CMU's Taylor Bolender (38.775) placed second to Janowicz in the all-around.

"(Taylor) is very valuable on all four events," Reighard said. "I started seeing some real desire instead of being scared. She's starting to attack some places and I think that'll continue."

The Chippewas will have to wait another week in their quest to surpass the 196 mark, an objective that last year's team reached several times. Their closest finish came last week in a non-conference dual at Eastern Michigan, when they scored a season-best 195.400.

"It's not easy, it's just not easy to make that jump," Reighard said. "But once we make that jump, we'll find it and it's something that can continue to do."

The Chippewas' next two meets are at home, Feb. 21 vs. Western Michigan and Feb. 28 vs. Kent State. The Kent State meet is CMU's home finale.