Reighard: 2014 gymnastics team has ‘best chance’ to advance to nationals Saturday
No. 18 gymnastics hopes it can advance to nationals for the first time in school history.
“We say ‘every tenth, every turn, every routine, we fight,’” said senior Emily Heinz, who leads the chant before every meet. “Basically (it means) that every tenth, every quarter-tenth counts, so we’re going to fight for everything so we don’t give anything away.”
The chant is based on the rallying cry from the movie Red Tails and finishes with a call and response of ‘we fight.’ Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade used a similar motivation when his team trailed the San Antonio Spurs in the 2013 NBA Finals. Central Michigan will need to fight for every tenth of a point in Saturday’s regional to takedown either host No. 6 Georgia or No. 7 Michigan if it wants to advance.
While head coach Jerry Reighard has helped CMU to a record-setting 15 Mid-American Conference championships in his 30 seasons, he has never made it to nationals.
“I think it would be, in my career as a coach, certainly a capstone of my career,” Reighard said. “(It’s) something that I’ve strived to attain year after year.”
Reighard said this year is the best chance the Chippewas have had to advance to nationals since 2003, when they missed out due to a tiebreaker.
“Actually, I think this is a better chance for us,” Reighard said. “I really feel that top to bottom, depth-wise, this team is a better team. But that 2003 team was not to be denied. From top to bottom they came out with a little fire in their gut and it paid off.”
The top two teams from Saturday’s regional in Athens, Ga. will advance to the national championships April 18-20 in Birmingham, Ala. CMU follows in seeding behind Georgia and Michigan.
No. 22 Ohio State, North Carolina State and Rutgers will be the other three teams at regionals.
“I feel fairly confident that both Georgia and Michigan are going to be in that 197 range,” Reighard said. “The score that we had at our championship meet isn’t going to move us on and we’re going to have to be even better than that. We have got to be pushing the 197 envelope to even be in the running.”
CMU has scored more than 197 twice in school history, the last time being in the 2004 MAC championships.
Georgia has finished first or second at regionals every season in program history, dating back to 1984 and has won 10 NCAA National Championships. Michigan has finished first or second at regionals 15 of the past 17 years.
Reighard said one of the toughest aspects Saturday will be proving to the judges that CMU is worthy of being mentioned with teams like Georgia and Michigan.
“I think there’s a little more respect (for Georgia) than the unknown factor of Central Michigan,” Reighard said. “I really feel like that’s going to be our biggest battle. The faster we can convince the judges that we are a quality program, the better the scores are going to climb for us.”
Heinz and senior Brittany Petzold have been to regionals the past three years with CMU, but they believe this is the best chance they have had to advance.
“This is the first time since we’ve been here that I think we can go to nationals,” Heinz said. “Last year we talked about it, but we still had those doubts. This year, I have no doubts we can beat Michigan or Georgia or both.”
The meet will start at 4 p.m. Saturday and can be watched live at georgiadogs.com.
PREDICTIONS
Vault:
1st: Georgia
2nd: Michigan
Georgia and Michigan rank sixth and seventh in vaulting nationally with CMU and NC State coming in at 22nd and 23rd. Michigan’s Austin Sheppard is the favorite to win the event individually, as she ranks second in the nation. CMU sophomore Kirsten Petzold is the top Chippewa on vault, ranked 33rd in the country.
Uneven Bars:
1st: Georgia
2nd: Michigan
Georgia is the top-ranked bars team in the nation, averaging a 49.485 for the season. They have five individuals in the Top 25 nationally, including two gymnasts tied for second. While CMU sits fourth out of the six teams at regionals, they’re coming off their best performance of the season on bars at a 49.475.
Balance Beam:
1st: Georgia
2nd: Central Michigan
Georgia has the seventh and ninth best gymnasts on beam in the country, but CMU junior Taylor Noonan is close behind in 17th. Michigan lurks one spot behind CMU on beam, just .005 behind, according to the Regional Qualifying Score.
Floor Exercise:
1st: Michigan
2nd: Georgia
Michigan is fourth in the country on floor, with Georgia and CMU coming in at 10th and 13th. Michigan’s Joanna Sampson is the only gymnast ranked higher than CMU junior Halle Moraw in Saturday’s regional. Sophomore Taylor Bolender also has a shot at the title, tied for 23rd in the country.
All-Around (individuals):
1st: Michigan’s Joanna Sampson
2nd: Georgia’s Brittany Rogers
Sampson and Rogers rank fifth and 11th in the country, but Rogers is battling an injury she sustained in the SEC championships two weeks ago and only competed in two of the events. The top two all-around individuals not on a qualifying team advance, so if Georgia and Michigan advance, NC State’s Brittni Watkins and Ohio State’s Melanie Shaffer are the next in line. CMU junior Becca Druien and senior Brittany Petzold rank 79th and 81st in the country.
