Strong Start, Strong Finish, Strong Showing

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. – Big scores on a big night for a surging Central Michigan gymnastics team.

Hannah Demers set a career high on uneven parallel bars and Denelle Pedrick accomplished the same feat on floor exercise as the Chippewas posted a season-best team score on Friday in topping Western Michigan in a Mid-American Conference dual meet at McGuirk Arena.

CMU finished with a 196.075 team score, topping the benchmark 196 for the first time this season. CMU's previous best, 195.675, came in its season-opening meet. The Broncos finished at 194.950.

The win was CMU's second straight and it lifted the Chippewas to 5-5, 3-2 MAC. The Broncos are 5-2, 4-1.

"Great competition and we knew that coming in," CMU coach Christine MacDonald said. "Western has had an outstanding year, it's a big rivalry for our universities as well.

"We're really pleased with our outcome today, finally we were able to put together a solid performance. We had each other's backs through each routine from start to finish. Great team effort today."

Highlights
Both Demers and Pedrick reached rarefied air, posting a 9.950 – Demers on the uneven parallel bars, Pedrick on the floor exercise.

Both scores were career highs, the highest score in either event this season by a MAC gymnast, and among the best in the nation in 2020. Entering Friday's meet, there had been only nine scores nationwide above 9.950 on floor, and only 11 such scored on bars.

Demers bars score ties for the fourth best in the event in program history, while Pedrick's equals the seventh best floor score in Chippewa annals.

Those performances, and several others, served as inspiration for the entire squad, senior Sydney Williams said.

"I think that once you see that person in front of you do what they do every day in practice it gives you the energy," she said. "It's like, 'OK, I've got this.' We huddle in our circle before we go and we talk about just enjoying our moments and only being at home a couple times (this season) we just go out there and make the best of our time at McGuirk."

A Sweep
A Chippewa finished first in all four events and CMU won three of the four.

Pedrick won floor and vault, tying her season best with a 9.900 in the latter; Demers was first on bars, and sophomore Morgan Tong won the balance beam with a career-high-tying 9.900.

Demers, a freshman, was first all-around with a 39.375.

The Chippewas won vault, beam and floor, scoring a season-high 49.300 on beam and equaling their season high (49.150) on vault.

CMU opened the meet on vault and, led by Pedrick, swept the top four spots in the event. Demers was second (9.875), Sierra Demarinis (9.825) was third and Kennedy Rae Johnson (9.800) was fourth. Demarinis and Johnson tied their respective season-best scores in the event.

The solid start helped ignite the Chippewas, who had suffered slow starts in the first rotation several times this season.

"We've waited to have that full lineup in place," MacDonald said. "The trust has been there with each person and every time we've gone out to compete.

"It (a good start) definitely takes a little pressure off, but at the same time, we keep it simple: One routine at a time and they've done an outstanding job with that this year. Obviously, it's nice to start in a strong position."

Strong Finish
The meet was tied at 146.775-all going into the final rotation. The Chippewas seized the moment, posting their season best on floor while Western finished at 48.175 on beam.

"I think going into the last event … I had no doubts or fears or anything because I know that our team can come back and we can always rise above," Demers said. "The energy was just so high, and everyone just loves it so much and we were just all so excited, we were like, game on! This is going to be great! We were all just so hyped up and we trust each other and we trust our gymnastics."

The Chippewas' floor scores were solid to outstanding from beginning to end, highlighted by a career-best 9.900 from Williams and Pedrick's performance, the last of the night, which put the exclamation point on the meet.

"For me, when I looked up and saw that we were tied going into floor, that kind of motivates me," Williams said. "When it's a close competition it gives you even more of that adrenaline to do it more for your team."

Great Night
While the performances of Pedrick and Demers were clearly headline grabbing, Williams' contribution – both on Friday and all season long -- cannot be overstated, MacDonald said.

Williams finished second on bars with a 9.875, giving her the first of two career-best scores on the night.

Williams "is a huge sparkplug for us in any event, in any shape or form," MacDonald said. "She's just been a great team captain, a great leader, and just her energy out there -- you see the energy that she brings to her performances and you can see the energy in the team itself just pick up as well. I just think it makes it a lot more fun for the whole team."

Next
The Chippewas go to Illinois on Sunday (5 p.m.) for a nonconference dual. The Illini are 9-5 and ranked 22^nd.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Denelle Pedrick

Morgan Tong

Sydney Williams