Chippewa Gymnasts Roll Past Eastern

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- The Central Michigan Gymnastics team swept all four events in defeating Eastern Michigan, 195.050-192.750, on Friday in a Mid-American Conference dual meet at McGuirk Arena.

It was the first home appearance in more than a month for the Chippewas, who improved to 10-1, 3-0. CMU is the lone unbeaten team in the league. The Eagles are 4-6, 2-2.

HOW IT HAPPENED
CMU junior Denelle Pedrick continued to dominate, winning the vault, the balance beam and the floor exercise. Her 9.900 on the beam tied her career-best score in the event. Her 9.900 floor-exercise score was a season high, and she tied her season-best score on the vault with a 9.800.

She tied for first all-around with Eastern's Jada Rondeau at 38.850. Earlier this week, Pedrick was named the MAC Gymnast of the Week for the third time this season.

"I feel like every day in practice, we have gritty routines," Pedrick said. "We practice adversity in the (practice) gym so it transfers really easily in the competition as well."

FLOOR
The Chippewas' best score came on the floor exercise where they posted a 39.100.

CMU's Abbie Rose Zoeller placed second with a 9.875, and Morgan Tong was fourth with a 9.800.

"I was really happy with myself," Tong said. "I perform for my team and I perform for something bigger than myself and I wanted to feel every motion and fight through everything. I love this team and I want us to do well and I know we have the potential to do that.

"A lot of what we do is based off our energy and when we rally each other up, it's really motivating and we all know that we're amazing as we love each other."

VAULT
The Chippewas took four of the top five spots in the vault. Kennedy Rae Johnson was second with a 9.775, Sierra Demarinis finished fourth with a 9.750, and Tong tied for fifth with a 9.725.

BEAM
Tong was second with a 9.800 on beam, and Macy Hilliker finished tied for third with a 9.775.

BARS
Despite a few slipups on bars, the Chippewas still had four athletes place in the top five.

Gianna Plaksa placed first and tied her season-high score with a 9.825; Zoeller, Johnson and Eastern's Cortney Bezold finished tied for second at 9.775, and CMU's Hayley Porter was fifth with a 9.750.

"You're going to have some mental mistakes along the way and fortunately in every case that's happened so far someone has picked up the slack and it's always been a different person and that's really encouraging," CMU coach Jerry Reighard said.

Said Pedrick: "Our teamwork has definitely been great this whole season and it showed multiple times today even with those mishaps on bars, our whole team had our back. We weren't worried. We came back on bars like we knew we could on beam and floor and hit (on) two good events on beam and floor."

HOME SWEET HOME
The Chippewas had a successful run on the road, posting five wins against one loss in four competitions.

Still, it was nice to be home, Reighard said.

"When you come home from a month stretch, it's a little foreign and as a coach you always look at everything," Reighard said. "But it is really good for our athletes to sleep in their own beds, do what they always do (to prepare for a meet).

"That comfort, you can't get on the road. And everything from the meals that they eat, it's all very comfortable when you're at home and our performances showed that today."

NEXT
The Chippewas remain at home to entertain Bowling Green in a MAC dual on Friday, Feb. 22 (7 p.m.).

The Falcons won its first meet of the season on Friday, posting a 194.375 in downing Townson. The score was Bowling Green's second-best of the season. The Falcons (1-9, 0-3) are scheduled to go to Kent State for a MAC dual on Sunday, Feb. 17.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Denelle Pedrick

Gianna Plaksa

Hayley Porter

Morgan Tong