Central Michigan University
NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional Championships
Pedrick Punches Her Ticket To NCAA Championships
4/7/2018 12:00:00 AM | Gymnastics
Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - Denelle Pedrick is headed to the NCAA Championships.
The Central Michigan sophomore tied for first on floor exercise on Saturday at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional to punch her ticket to the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year.
The 2018 NCAA Chammpionships are scheduled for April 20-21 in St. Louis. Pedrick scored a 9.900 on floor on Saturday to share the top spot with Sabrina Vega of Georgia. It is Pedrick's second collegiate regional title. She won the vault, and thereby earned a trip to the NCAAs, in 2017.
"Denelle has had that ability all year long," CMU coach Jerry Reighard said. "She just really came into her own tonight and did a really great floor routine. She hung in there with some former Olympians and I feel really good about that."
The Chippewas posted a 195.825 team score, finishing sixth in the six-team field. CMU was the lone team in the regional that was not ranked in the top 25 nationally. No. 4 Alabama, the host team, was first with a 197.225. No. 18 Georgia (196.500) was second. The Crimson Tide and the Bulldogs qualified for the NCAA Championships.
CMU scored a 48.850 on vault; 49.075 on bars; 48.975 on balance beam; and 48.925 on floor.
"Overall, the team did a really nice job," Reighard said. "We struggled a little bit with our first two people in the lineup on every event and that was costly. The senior class really came through and did a wonderful job. We have one individual qualifying onto nationals. That's exciting. I think we did a really good job."
CMU senior Katy Clements, who last week earned All-America honors, was second on balance beam with a 9.900. Kiana Winston of Alabama won with a 9.925.
Other top-10 finishes for CMU came from Bryttany Kaplan and Gianna Plaksa on bars, and from Pedrick on vault. Kaplan (9.900) and Plaksa (9.875) were fourth and 10th, respectively, on bars, and Pedrick (9.875) was fifth on vault.
Clements and Kaplan are seniors, two of five on the Chippewa roster. Courtney Campbell, Macey Hilliker and Miranda Wieczorek are the others.
CMU returned to championship form in 2018, winning its first Mid-American Conference Championships title since 2014. The Chippewas also captured the regular-season MAC title, their first since 2015.
The Chippewas scored a 197.025 in winning the MAC Championships. It was the third-best score in program history. Their beam score that day, 49.475, was tied for the best in program history in that event.
"This senior class has been such an inspiration not just to the team, but to the coaching staff," Reighard said. "They have sacrificed. They have given us more than I think anyone thought they would. I couldn't be more pleased that they went out the way they did."
Players Mentioned
