Motivated Chippewa Gymnasts Start Sunday

Sunday, January 6

Mount Pleasant, Mich.

1 p.m.

Central Michigan University

Illinois, Arizona & Bridgeport

1/4/2019 3:18:00 PM | Gymnastics

CMU welcomes top-36 teams Illinois, Arizona for quad

By: Andy Sneddon, CMUChippewas.com

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Don't poke the bear.

The Central Michigan gymnastics team, long the standard-setting program in the Mid-American Conference, opens the 2019 season at home on Sunday (1 p.m.) with a nonconference quad with Arizona, Illinois and Division II power Bridgeport.

CMU, which last year swept the MAC regular-season title and the MAC Championships before advancing to the NCAA Regionals for the 10^th consecutive season, is ranked 30^th nationally heading into the season.

The Chippewas are the only MAC team that is ranked, yet they finished third in the preseason poll of league coaches.

"That doesn't buy one-10^th of a point throughout the season," said Jerry Reighard, who is well into his fourth decade as the Chippewas' coach. "I really think that people are anticipating that when we lost a Katy Clements (All-American) that we can't fill that void. But they should know by now that we always have up-and-comers and people are going to be very surprised at how good we are this year."

"I fully expect that we'll be MAC champions; I fully expect that we'll go to the NCAA Championships."

TOP RETURNEES
Certainly, there are big shoes to fill after the graduation of the likes of Clements and Bryttany Kaplan. But plenty returns, including two-time NCAA qualifier Denelle Pedrick; 2018 MAC all-around champion Gianna Plaksa; defending league vaulting champion Sydney Williams; and Macey Hilliker, the 2017 MAC floor exercise champion who redshirted last season with an injury.

"Those are people who have done things, those are people that we can really build our lineup around," Reighard said.

LEADERSHIP
Plaksa and Hilliker, the captains, are two of the five seniors on the roster. The others, each of whom is expected to fill key roles, are Skyler Memmel, Kailey Miller and Abbie Zoeller.

"Macy and Gianna, our captains, are doing a great job of preparing this team, getting them on board with the things they need to do," Reighard said. "Our entire senior class has really stepped up their game, their personal game.

"One person can't lead a team, but a group of five is almost half of our team and they're hungry they know what they want to accomplish this year. I've seen a transformation in every person on our team."

Pedrick and Williams are among the non-seniors who have had the most success throughout their careers, but there are plenty of others who have waited in the wings and bided their time as there always are in Reighard's program.

"We've got a lot of athletes who weren't starters, but who have watched a lot of people who were ahead of them," he said. "They don't look like their inexperienced and attribute that to the culture, the people ahead of them that they've watched for years.

"The depth that we've had this year is stronger than we've had in the past few years and we're actually having challenges to get in the lineup and they're (performing) quality routines."

THE POLL
Northern Illinois picked to finish first in the MAC in the coaches poll. Bowling Green was second followed by the Chippewas, Eastern Michigan, Ball State, Kent State and Western Michigan.

NIU was named on three ballots to win the MAC Championships. CMU, Bowling Green, Eastern Michigan and Ball State received one vote each.

SUNDAY'S OPENER
Illinois opens the season ranked 22^nd, while Arizona is ranked 33^rd.

The Chippewas are scheduled to receive their MAC championship rings at Sunday's meet and the competition will give CMU a good gauge as it kicks off the year.

"This first meet, we're in our arena, we'll sleep in our beds, we'll use our locker room, we didn't have to fly in," Reighard said. "We just have to capitalize on that."

The Chippewas entertain Illinois State in a nonconference dual meet on Friday, Jan. 11 (7 p.m.).