Gymnastics to rely on vault, uneven bars at Michigan Classic
The State of Michigan Classic is as close to getting Michigan’s most prominent collegiate gymnastics teams on the same mat as it gets.
Although the University of Michigan is not participating, the CMU gymnastics team will face No. 21 Michigan State, Western Michigan and Eastern Michigan, which the team beat 192.975-191.525 last Saturday, in Kalamazoo.
The Chippewas will depend on high-scoring performances on the vault and uneven bars to stay in competition with MSU. Last weekend, senior Katie Simon led the bars team (9.8), and freshman Keri Dieffenderfer, junior Cheryl Conlin and freshman Britney Taylor scored a 9.7 on their routines. The team scored a 48.550 in the event.
“The entire bar squad did a wonderful job,” said CMU coach Jerry Reighard, “We did well in Denver, it’s been going really well in practice, and that has been really good for us.”
The Chippewas scored a 49.200 (Denver and BYU) and a 48.725 against EMU on the vault. The vault has been CMU’s highest-scoring event in two of its four meets. In the other two meets, CMU scored its highest on the floor exercises (Illinois State, Utah State).
One event that has caused issues for the team is the balance beam. Reighard said he understands it may take time to develop consistency in the event.
“It kind of fell apart for us (against EMU), we had a couple of falls,” he said, “and it’s an area we need to regroup on.”
There were some improvements on the event -— Taylor scored a 9.825 against EMU and, returning to the lineup from injury, senior Jessica Suder came in second with a 9.625.
Taylor, who won the EMU meet with a 39.025 all-around, has increased her all-around performance by .80 from the first meet at Illinois State (38.225).
2010 Classic
The Chippewas have had mixed results in the State of Michigan Classic the past three years. They finishing in second place in 2009, fourth in 2008 and third in 2007.
MSU is the highest-scoring team in the meet (194.065 average). Coming off a league win against Ohio State (194.875-191.425), the Spartans look to senior Rochelle Robinson (9.85 in Ohio State meet) and freshman Shanthi Teike on vault (9.8).
Western Michigan comes in having lost its last two league meets. The Broncos lost their last meet against Bowling Green despite their highest score of the season (191.850). Sophomore Meghan Donovan looks to repeat following last week’s record performance (9.825) on the bars.
Eastern Michigan rounds out the four-team format for the meet and looks to rebound following last weekend’s loss. EMU will look to freshman Kaylyn Millick (9.775 against CMU) and junior Nikole Viltz (9.675) on the balance beam.
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