Gymnasts Head To Iowa City For NCAA Regional
4/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Jerry Reighard knows full well that it takes building blocks, from week to week, meet to meet, season to season.
Next up for Reighard's Central Michigan gymnastics team is the NCAA Regionals, a trip to which can be considered a major accomplishment in light of how the 2016 season has unfolded.
CMU will compete with five teams in the regional at the University of Iowa's Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City Saturday at 5 p.m.
Joining CMU and host Iowa in the regional field are No. 1-ranked Oklahoma, No. 12 Nebraska, Arkansas and Kent State. Iowa is ranked 18th. The top two teams in the regional advance to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, April 15-16.
The Chippewas finished third in the regional last year, tying the second-best placing in program history. CMU graduated a number of talented veterans from that squad, and went in to the 2016 season with plenty of question marks.
The injury bug bit - hard - throughout the season, leaving Reighard to continually juggle a lineup that, even under the best of circumstances, was going to take time to gel, gain experience and find its legs.
The Chippewas struggled to a fourth-place finish two weeks ago, finishing in fourth place, an uncharacteristically poor showing for the Mid-American Conference's premier program.
Still, CMU managed to finish among the top 36 programs in the country in regional qualifying score, an objective measure that is an average of any given team's top scores from throughout the season.
CMU's Megan Lamphere and Bryttany Kaplan tied for first place on the uneven parallel bars at the MAC Championships, and senior Taylor Bolender scored a career-best 39.175 in placing third in the all-around.
Bolender, Lamphere and Kaplan were each named to the MAC All-Tournament Team, and Bolender earned Second Team All-MAC honors along with teammates Katy Clements and Kasey Janowicz.
Janowicz earned the MAC Freshman of the Year Award, the first Chippewa to accomplish that feat since Britney Traylor in 2010.
Reighard said the regional appearance serves the Chippewas on several fronts.
"It's really a powerful way for our seniors to go out and they have worked hard," Reighard said. "Top to bottom this team has really fought for this position and I'm certainly glad that they get the opportunity.
"The freshmen class, there's nothing better than getting a chance to compete with the best, and you get to see what the coaches have been telling you about all year. It's a great learning experience for those freshmen to really learn what it's all about."
The Chippewas will start Saturday's meet on vault, an event in which they have struggled this season. They average 48.594, the worst among the four rotations.
"Our bar routines, they'll stand up with anybody," Reighard said. "I feel a lot more comfortable with our floor routine; we finally got everybody on board.
"Our beam is really strong. The biggest struggle for us is going to be vaulting and we're going to work really hard ahead of the regional to improve that."
Players Mentioned
