Gymnastics kicks off MAC schedule at Ball State
The road to back-to-back gymnastics Mid-American Conference titles begins today in Muncie, Ind., when CMU squares off against the Ball State Cardinals.
The Chippewas started the season last Friday with a first-place finish at the Sacramento State quadrangle meet, scoring a 193.575. The mark was the program’s best opening score since 2004.
With the chance to win its third consecutive MAC opener, head coach Jerry Reighard had stressed to the team the importance of starting conference play with a win.
“If you win the conference then you get to choose the rotation in the MAC Championship meet, so it can be a big advantage to some teams,” Reighard said.
All week, the team has spent practice trying to improve their score by a tenth of a point.
The plan for earning its fifth consecutive win against the Cardinals is to come out aggressive and not worrying about being too perfect.
“If we are going to make mistakes it is going to happen by being aggressive,” he said. “Big, strong, aggressive is the CMU style.”
Meanwhile, the Cardinals started their season losing to Pittsburgh and continue to rebuild under fourth year head coach Nadalie Walsh. They finished fifth at MAC Championships last season, with just one win in the conference last year.
“They (Ball State) have a large team with a number of specialists that provide balance for them,” Reighard said. “Their fourth and fifth scores can make a real difference in the meet.”
Sophomore Tiffany Brodbeck and junior Brittney Emmons are two bright spots on the Cardinals roster as both competed in the NCAA Central Regional meet last season.
Emmons placed 13th in the all-around and was named to the MAC second team. In both teams’ meeting last year, in which the Chippewas won 194.325-193.275, Emmons finished first on the floor and second in the all-around.
Some of the girls who competed in exhibitions are expected to be in the starting lineup today.
Sophomore Bailey Brumbach or Cheryl Conlin will be slotted in for vault. MAC Freshman of the Year Brittany Taylor expects to compete in bars. After her first win last weekend, MAC Specialist of the Week Darrian Tissenbaum will on bars. Freshman Alyssa Wilson will compete in the floor.
“We’re really excited and looking at this meet to improve ourselves,” said senior Andrea de la Garza.
