Gymnasts Deliver, Nail Down MAC Regular Season Title

Final Results

MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. -- Start strong, finish strong.

And walk out with a championship.

The Central Michigan gymnasts turned in solid performances on the first (vault) and last (floor exercise) rotations on Friday in defeating Ball State to claim the Mid-American Conference regular season title at McGuirk Arena.

The Chippewas finished 5-1 in MAC meets. They will share the crown with Kent State if the Golden Flashes beat Western Michigan on Sunday. If Kent State loses, the Chippewas win the title outright.

It is CMU's first MAC regular season title since 2019. The Chippewas will look to make it a double at the MAC Championships next weekend at Eastern Michigan.

"It's a very rewarding feeling for our team," CMU coach Christine MacDonald said. "They've put in the work, they've made the commitment, and I'm really happy for them to see that all that hard work does pay off."

The Chippewas posted a 49.125 score on vault to open the meet and appeared to be on their way to a relatively easy victory.

It didn't play out that way, however, as their team scores on uneven parallel bars (48.275) and on balance beam (48.450) left them trailing by nearly one-half point heading into the final rotation, floor exercise.

The Chippewas delivered in what has traditionally been their strongest event.

Senior Sierra DeMarinis led the charge in her final meet at McGuirk as he won the floor with a 9.900 score. CMU claimed the top five spots as Katie Kowalski and Hannah DeMers tied for second (9.875) and Aleysia Kolyvanova and Ashley Veglucci tied for fourth (9.825).

The Chippewas posted a solid 49.300 on floor while Ball State scored 47.700 on beam in the final rotation. The difference was enough to lift CMU to a 195.150 team score and the victory. Ball State finished at 193.925.

"We re-set after every rotation and it's a party for us on floor," MacDonald said. "We went in there and did our job. That's what we talk about every day in the gym."

Though the Chippewas' beam score was subpar – the 48.450 was their lowest in their last six meets – they got clutch performances from their final three competitors in the event, keeping them within striking distance and giving them a chance to overtake the Cardinals in the final rotation.

Morgan Tong, like DeMarinis a senior performing for the final time at McGuirk, won beam with a 9.850. DeMers, a junior, and DeMarinis tied for second at 9.825.

"We've always talked a lot about winning championships with your upperclassmen specifically because of that experience and that experience was definitely something we needed today," MacDonald said. "They did a great job of performing when it was needed.

"We really rally around each other, and that total team atmosphere and total team effort was there. I thought the team did a good job of picking each other up and staying focused on our gymnastics."

DeMers won the parallel bars with 9.875, while CMU's Lia Kmieciak and Adriana Bustelo (9.800) tied for second. Kowalski was second (9.900) and teammate Avah Anthes (9.825) was third on vault.

DeMers won the all around with a 39.375.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Avah Bootz

Adriana Bustelo

Sierra DeMarinis

Hannah DeMers

Lia Kmieciak

Aleysia Kolyvanova

Katie Kowalski

Morgan Tong

Ashley Veglucci