Fagan lone individual champion as gymnastics takes fifth-straight MAC title
YPSILANTI--The 'Area 51' sign will continue to hang.
Central Michigan gymnastics’ goal of earning five individual championships and one team championship did not come into fruition Saturday. However, they did fulfill the team portion, earning a fifth-straight Mid-American Conference championship.
Because CMU finished second or third in every event, junior Kylie Fagan was the only Chippewa to earn an individual championship, doing so on the last routine of the last event. Fagan’s 9.95 on the uneven bars put the finishing touches on securing the title.
“It feels great,” Fagan said. “It’s what I’ve been working for all season. Just to come in there and help the team, and to come out as MAC champion was icing on the cake.”
Head coach Jerry Reighard has said all season that Fagan is good enough to be the MAC champion on bars, but it took until about halfway through the season before she really started to believe it.
“Kylie is a very, very special person,” Reighard said. “It’s been very difficult over the (last) few years to get her to really firmly believe that she’s that good. She was able to get in the zone and she’s done that routine just like that seriously once a day for the last two months, so it was nice to see her be able to do it when she had to do it.”
Fagan’s previous career high was a 9.925, which she earned March 8 at Rutgers. Her 9.95 Saturday was the highest score of the meet and the second-highest uneven bars score in MAC tournament history.
The second her feet hit the ground at the end of the routine, she knew it was a 9.95.
“(Reighard) just had this big smile on his face (after the routine),” Fagan said. (He) gave me a high-five and told me that’s what I’ve been working all year for.”
Saturday in Ypsilanti marked the seventh year in a row the Chippewas have claimed an individual title.
Kent State senior Marie Case dominated the other individual categories, tying for first on vault, beating out junior Taylor Noonan for first on balance beam and winning the all-around in dominant fashion. Senior Brittany Petzold came in second, more than half a point behind in the all-around.
Case also tied second on bars and third on floor. She was instrumental in the Golden Flashes victory against CMU earlier in the season.
“I know that (Case) did a great routine, so it was well-deserved by her,” Noonan said. “My focus was on the team and whatever I could contribute was what I tried to do.”
Even after winning the MAC tournament, the Chippewas were surprisingly shutout from the MAC Specialty Awards, which included Coach of the Year, Gymnast of the Year, Senior of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Specialist of the Year.
“I said to my staff ‘it doesn’t matter. We’re walking out of here with the trophy,’” Reighard said. “You can’t win six if you don’t win five, so now you know where we’re heading next year. All in all, I’m just very proud of our athletes.”
