Conlin, de la Garza lead all-around effort for gymnastics
Juniors Cheryl Conlin and Andrea de la Garza propelled the CMU gymnastics team to victory last weekend.
Competing in her first meet in her career as an all-arounder, Conlin scored a cumulative 38.45 in her four events. Her highest score came on the vault, where she exceeded the team goal with a 9.75. She finished in third place in the vault and balance beam, and in fourth on the floor exercise.
Pleased with her all-around victory, Conlin said there are areas of her performance that need to be perfected.
“(On) the bars, I need to work on my form so I can hit my routines,” she said.
Coach Jerry Reighard said he is aware of the pressure that home meets bring, and accredited some of the mistakes that occurred during Friday’s meet to that pressure.
Despite the miscues, he said he was happy with the success the all-around gymnasts had.
“Our all-arounders struggled on an event here or there, but I see huge potential,” he said.
de la Garza totaled 38.175 points, with her high score of 9.725 coming on the floor exercise. Despite falling on the vault (her first vault fall of her collegiate career), she said she was excited with the overall effort put forth.
“I was excited with my consistency in the other events,” she said. “But I still know there’s some execution I can fix.”
CMU will compete against Brigham Young and Denver this weekend in Colorado. With nearly 1,500 miles to travel to Saturday’s meet, de la Garza said she is focused on the standard schedule and is treating this week like any other.
“The mindset stays the same,” she said. “I know I have to go out and hit four-of-four events and stick the landings.”
Out of the gym
Conlin was greeted with another surprise this week when she was named the State Farm Scholar-Athlete of the Week. Behind a 3.2 grade point average, she is majoring in health fitness, where she said she would like to continue her education in physical therapy.
Although a heavy classload and practice schedule befalls many student athletes, Conlin said she has a simple formula for maintaining a high GPA.
“Stay on top of your studies and get ahead, so you don’t have to wait until the last minute,” she said.
