Central Michigan University
Kent State
Chippewas Fall In Home Finale
2/28/2016 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Zach Libby, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Five Central Michigan competitors completed their routine on the floor exercise, and it was the final gymnast in the lineup that everyone was waiting to see.
Taylor Bolender, one of five Chippewa seniors performing for the final time at McGuirk Arena on Sunday, posted a 9.900 to finished tied for first place with Kent State's Rachel Stypinski.
It was the final shining on an otherwise disappointing night, as the Chippewas took their first Mid-American Conference loss, 195.325-194.550.
The Golden Flashes, despite falling behind in the opening event on the uneven bars, regained the lead after the second rotation on the vault and thanks to the team's consistency, Kent State remains on top of the MAC standings.
"Obviously a very disappointing night for our entire team," CMU coach Jerry Reighard said. "Sometimes difficult to watch, but I think I need to take full responsibly for this. I've been driving this team very hard and I think it caught up with us."
It wasn't all bad for the Chippewas. In fact, CMU started the best way possible, posting 48.850 in vault, led by freshman Kasey Janowicz, who was first with a 9.850. The Chippewas' Rachel Carr and Jodie Plescow both posted 9.775 scores to share second place.
Unfortunately, it was not a sign of things to come.
A total of five falls were counted against CMU, two each on both uneven parallel bars and floor. The Chippewas' Megan Lamphere, another senior, won bars with a career-best 9.900. Janowicz (9.875) was second and teammate Bryttany Kaplan (9.850) was third. But the Chippewas were forced to count a 9.175.
"You just can't give away falls," Reighard said. "You're not going to be competitive and you're not going to win meets in this conference when you're counting a fall on each event and that's what we did tonight."
Stypinski won the balance beam with a 9.825, while Janowicz was the lone Chippewa among a quartet of gymnasts who tied for second at 9.775.
Janowicz won the all-around with a 39.150 mark. It was the eighth time in nine competitions that she has placed first.
"Kasey does a great job week after week after week," Reighard said. "She's one of the people that I have to be particularly careful with. She's coming into this last stretch and we have to manage her and some other people much better in a more competitive situation."
The loss puts Central Michigan in second place in the MAC standings at 3-1 in the conference and 11-2 overall. Kent State improved to 5-0 in league meets.
Barring any upsets that could help the Chippewas regain at least a share of the top spot in the standings, Central Michigan will look to the March 19 MAC Championships at Ball State.
"We knew what was on the line and we knew what just happened to us," Reighard said. "Now, the championship that were striving for is the tournament championship."
The Chippewas close the regular season with meets at Bowling Green (March 4) and at Eastern Michigan (March 10).
Players Mentioned
