Gymnastics gets first opportunity to compete in new arena Sunday


As half of the “Royal Rumble & Tumble” this weekend, the CMU women’s gymnastics team will take on league rival Northern Illinois at 2 p.m. Sunday.

Both the gymnastics team and the wrestling team will take part in a dual-team meet. The event will be the home opener for the gymnastics team.

Not only in search of a win on Sunday, the main goal for the team will be to dig themselves out of the 193 score hole that has plagued them all year. Averaging a score of 193.375 per meet, a team goal of 195 was set before the season began.

“That was a goal in September that we knew was attainable for us,” said head coach Jerry Reighard. “And until we’re able to climb off our current plateau and move ahead it’s kind of a rut and we have got to get ourselves out of that.”

In order to reach that goal, the team has been working on back-to-back partner routines in order to help the gymnasts build upon each other’s scores. Junior Kristin Teubner said the team has been working on pressure routines in practice so that when they get into the meets they can post scores in the 9.8 to 9.9 range in their respective events.

“A lot of it is hitting the little things in practice,” Teubner said. “We have to maybe go 9.9 in practice so when the meet comes and we have those little jitters, its really 9.85.”

Coming off her three-event win performance in the Michigan-Illinois Showdown last weekend, Teubner will be counted on to score big again this weekend for the Chippewas.

Not only will the team have to deal with trying to score a 195, but also the capacity crowd expected at the dual meet.

Senior Andrea de la Garza said that the atmosphere of the event will be a welcome sight and is something that she feels will provide a boost.

“I think its going to help us out because we’re used to competing in big meets like regionals and MAC championships, so we’re used to the audience,” de la Garza said.

Injuries

De la Garza will also look to make an impact in Sunday’s meet as she tied her career-high on the beam last weekend with a 9.850 and has averaged a 38.408 score in the all-around. She suffered a non-gym related concussion earlier in the week, but is expected to compete on Sunday.

Injuries may be one of the root causes behind the lower than average scores, but Reighard said his whole team is fighting small injuries at this point.

“Everyone out there has their aches and pains and that’s saying that mildly,” he said. “So we as coaches have to be very careful as not to push anyone over the edge.”

The team lost sophomores Emily LaFontaine and Kari Dieffenderfer for the season following their second meet of the year. Senior Cheryl Conlin was held out of the Illinois quad meet, but practiced this week and is slated to compete on Sunday.

As a positive, injuries have led to new additions to the lineup and strong performances from sophomore Darrian Kirshenbaum (9.825 on vault) and freshmen Alyssa Wilson (9.80 on bars) and Brittany Petzold (38.60 all-around).

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