Central Michigan University
Illinois State
Fast Start, Faster Finish
2/5/2017 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - The Central Michigan gymnastics team won all four events Sunday and tied its season-best team score in topping Illinois State in a nonconference dual at McGuirk Arena.
The Chippewas totaled 194.950, equaling the number they put up three weeks ago in a victory at Western Mchigan. CMU improved to 6-2. Illinois State (3-3) finished at 194.075.
CMU set a season-high team marks in two events, vault (48.975) and floor exercise (49.475). They came close to the program record 49.675 on floor exercise.
The Chippewas' Katy Clements won vault, 9.825; Bryttany Kaplan won parallel bars, 9.900; Shaila Segal won balance beam, 9.775; and Denelle Pedrick, Clements and Macy Hilliker tied for first on floor, 9.925. The Chippewas' Gianna Plaksa was fourth on floor with a 9.900.
"Top to bottom, this group has the ability to go 9.9," CMU coach Jerry Reighard said of his team's performance on floor. "It's very comforting to know we have other people in the gym that we can put in the lineup as well. It's a really good place to be in."
Pedrick, Clements and Hilliker posted their scores consecutively to close floor exercise and the meet.
"Getting those three 9.925's in a row kind of pumped us up and we know we can do better than that," Pedrick said. "It's a high note going into the next meet."
The 49.475 on floor came one week after the Chippewas posted a 48.375 in the event at the Metroplex Challenge in Fort Worth, Texas.
"Metroplex was on a podium, which adds some extra bounce to the floor," Pedrick said. "We weren't used to the landing so we had to adjust hugely there. Coming back home it's what we're used to and we got to settle in and focus on our landings. That really helped."
"I think it's our fans at home," Segal said. "No one pumps us up more than the people who come to watch us."
One judge gave Hilliker, a junior from Bay City, a 10 for her floor exercise routine.
"We work so hard in the gym for those moments that make you want to cry for how good other people have done and there so many of those moments today," Segal said. "Especially Macy's 10 from one judge on floor."
Plaska, Kaplan and Pedrick tied for second at 9.800 behind Clements on vault, CMU's first rotation of the day. That got the Chippewas off to a strong start.
"My saying for this week was `Train insane or stay the same,'" Reighard said. "And we really did train very hard. The work ethic of not only the vault squad but the entire team, I can't question.
"They come into the gym and they do exactly what we ask them to do and they don't do it begrudgingly because they know what they need to do and they're fighting hard for that."
The Chippewas' team scores on bars and beam were somewhat subpar, but they surged to a strong finish on floor. The 49.425 on floor was CMU's best score in any event all season.
"When they get into their routines and they're totally immersed in their routines that's when it become automatic, and we're almost automatic," Reighard said. "And I think floor was automatic today. The other three events we're still working on.
"I think we're very close to where we want to be."
Players Mentioned
