New Season, Same High Expectations

Jan. 5, 2018

CENTRAL MICHIGAN vs. ILLINOIS STATE

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Saturday, Jan. 6 | 2 p.m.
McGuirk Arena | Mount Pleasant, Mich.

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Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - For all of those in and around the Central Michigan gymnastics program, the standards and expectations are manifest.

"We practice to win and we expect to win at our competitions and when we don't then it's not 'going back to the drawing board,'" longtime coach Jerry Reighard said, "it's going back to the gym and making sure that's not going to happen again."

For Reighard, who is in his 34th year in charge of the program, the happening again is a long-term, historical bent. Last season, the Chippewas finished third in the Mid-American Conference regular-season standings and third at the MAC Championships. They received a bid to the NCAA Regional for the 14th time in 19 years. They finished sixth in the six-team field.

The third-place MAC finishes have served as a motivator in the offseason, said Reighard, whose team opens the 2018 season on Saturday (2 p.m.) at McGuirk Arena against Illinois State.

"I think we're a championship team," he said. "I really do. If we're not I'll be very disappointed and I know (the gymnasts) will be also.

"Last year we didn't have the experience and we really had to bend and shape people and try to mold them into something that they had never been before. Our two captains have really been handling things so well, the whole team is inspired."

The captains are seniors Katy Clements and Bryttany Kaplan. A year ago, Clements won the regional title on the balance beam. In 2016, Kaplan was the MAC champion on uneven parallel bars.

Among the others in the nucleus who return are senior Macey Hilliker, the '17 MAC champion on the floor exercise; sophomore Denelle Pedrick, a regional vault champ last March who spent her summer helping Canada to a silver medal at the World University Games; and juniors Gianna Plaksa, Kailey Miller and Abbie Rose Zoeller.

Senior Courtney Campbell, who competed on bars and floor a year ago, also figures into the mix.

"She has gotten a little fire inside of her that she never had in the past and I think that's going to be a real positive thing for the team," Reighard said.

While it takes being solid-to-very good in all four disciplines to win a league championship and to earn an NCAA Regional bid, Reighard recognized that the Chippewas' premier event remains the floor exercise.

"Floor is still it," he said. "We have a lot of expertise coaching on floor. We pretty much have the secret, I believe, to dominating that event. We really run with that. We know that's our strength. When you can get the crowd behind you the judges are behind you. It all goes hand in hand."