Gymnastics ready for Saturday's NCAA regional meet in Columbus
Gymnastics will face stiff competition as it heads to Columbus, Ohio, this weekend for the NCAA Regional Championships against No. 6 UCLA, No. 7 LSU, No. 18 Arizona, No. 20 Ohio State and North Carolina State.
CMU has had two weeks to prepare for Saturday's big showdown. Practice has been essential in the two weeks because only the top two teams of each regional championship proceed to the national championships, which will be held April 19-21 in Los Angeles.
“Practice has been going very well; we have really been emphasizing perfection,” said head gymnastics coach Jerry Reighard. “The team has really bought in; I have seen some really big improvements both mentally and physically.”
The mental preparation is calming the nerves going into a meet of this caliber and competing against teams of championship caliber.
“Every team there is very strong and capable, including ourselves,” Reighard said.
Reighard has been emphasizing all week the need for a great first routine to start each event.
“If our leadoff has a good score, then we know, as a team, that the judges are appreciating what we are doing,” Reighard said “At MACs, Taylor Bolender scored a 9.85, and, at the point, we know the scores can hover there or they can get better.”
This isn't unfamiliar territory for the program as it has competed in nine NCAA Regional Championships and looks to get a national bid.
“I remind the girls of something they need to be reminded of in practice usually before their event,” Reighard said.
Last year, the Chippewas placed last of six in the regional held in Seattle, and Reighard felt that the team was judged a little harshly based on the conference and the competition they face on a meet-to-meet basis.
“We’re considered mid-major stuff; that really grinds me because we are not coming from a conference that has a football team that wins the national championship,” Reighard said. “We have to make it undeniable; we know where the judges are very particular. We have focused on closing those doors on the judges.”
After facing a harsh defeat last year after traveling long distance, the team is looking toward perfect routines to awe the judges. The second of the two weeks focused almost exclusively on the mental preparation.
“We have really been putting the pressure on our athletes," Reighard said. "We have been eliminating warm-up time to ensure they know that, at this point, we are slowly weaning our team away from the ‘I feel good’ state of mind."
The team took off for Columbus Thursday and hopes to come home with one more meet to go and a regional trophy in hand.
