Central Michigan University
MAC Championships
Chippewa Gymnasts 4th In MAC Championships
3/19/2016 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MUNCIE, Ind. - Not the worst day, but far from good enough.
The Central Michigan gymnastics team finished fourth Saturday in the Mid-American Conference Championships at Ball State's Worthen Arena.
Eastern Michigan placed first with 196.425 points. The Chippewas finished with 195.600. It was the second MAC title in EMU history, the first since 2007.
The Chippewas, who were second at the MAC Championships last season after winning five consecutive titles, will wait to see if they receive a bid to an NCAA Regional.
"Just not what we're capable of and that's sort of been the story of our season," CMU coach Jerry Reighard said. "Only really one time this season did I feel we put a complete meet together. And that wasn't today."
Three Chippewas, seniors Megan Lamphere and Taylor Bolender and sophomore Bryttany Kaplan, were named to the All-Tournament Team. CMU's Kasey Janowicz was named the league Freshman of the Year.
Lamphere and Kaplan tied for first, with Eastern Michigan's Kendall Valentin, on uneven parallel bars with a 9.900 score. The 9.900 was a career-best for Kaplan and it matched Lamphere's career-best.
Denasiha Christian of Ball State won the vault (9.900) and the floor exercise (9.950), while Laura Mitchell of Bowling Green captured the balance beam (9.925).
Bolender tied for second, with Natalie Gervais of Eastern Michigan, with a career-best 9.900 on balance beam. Bolender and teammate Macey Hilliker were among a group tied for ninth on floor (9.875), and Karlee Teet recorded CMU's best finish on vault, ninth, at 9.775.
Lauren Feely of Bowling Green won the all-around with a 39.300. Bolender placed third (39.175).
The Chippewas struggled all season to find their footing after graduating a number of mainstays in 2015. The number of untested gymnasts coupled with season-long injury issues proved a high mountain to climb.
"It's been a roller coaster year, there's no doubt about that," Reighard said. "When you only have 12 scholarship student-athletes, you can only absorb so many injuries. You go to the bank and there's nothing to withdraw. I think that's what we got caught up in, and it just never seemed to subside."
Still, it looked early on in Saturday's meet, it looked like the Chippewas would somehow right the ship. They opened with a season-best 49.225 on floor exercise to take the lead after one rotation.
"As it turned out our kids surpassed our expectations there," Reighard said. "Then we went to our nemesis, vaulting."
The Chippewas posted a 48.550 on vault.
"We could have been at least five-10ths better than we were," Reighard said. "We didn't stick any landings. We just weren't very sharp there. It dwindled at that point."
Still, the Chippewas remained in the thick of it by winning bars with a good, but not great, 49.100.
"We left a little on the table and I knew that would haunt us," Reighard said.
CMU finished on beam, where Jordan Charrette led off with a career-best 9.875, Bolender followed with a career-best 9.900, and Teet posted a solid 9.85.
"It looked like we were going to make the comeback of the year," Reighard said. "We had two falls, and they really crushed us. The bottom fell out and we couldn't recover from that."
Ball State finished second with 196.650, while Bowling Green was third (195.625). Regular-season champion Kent State, the defending MAC champion, was fifth (195.325).
Players Mentioned
