Gymnastics prepares for new era with intrasquad meet
Central Michigan coach Christine MacDonald speaks with members of the gymnastics team Jan. 5 at McGuirk Arena.
Senior Denelle Pedrick smiled and exhaled a sigh of relief as she finished her routine on the uneven parallel bars.
Central Michigan's gymnastics team held an intrasquad meet Sunday afternoon in McGuirk Arena, inviting the community to watch its athletes compete against one another.
Plenty of storylines took center stage Sunday afternoon. Among them, the beginning of Christine MacDonald's tenure as head coach. She was named interim head coach following the firing of Jerry Reighard last season. MacDonald was officially named the leader of the program on May 16, 2019.
MacDonald served as an assistant for the previous 25 years and was appointed as associate head coach in 2006.
Sunday's intrasquad had the feel of an in-season meet, with the team competing in each of the four rotations. However, because the official NCAA season has begun, there was no scoring for the meet.
“This was a great opportunity for us to get back into the arena," MacDonald said. "Today was an opportunity for us as coaches to kind of insert people in a pressure situation to see how they might react to that position."
The Chippewas opened the competition on the uneven bars, with freshman Savana Kotas leading off. Other competitors in the opening rotation included freshmen Brenna Hauser, Ashley Veglucci and Hannah Demers, junior Kennedy Johnson and Pedrick, who closed out the rotation.
Following the uneven bars, the Chippewas moved to the balance beam, where Kotas again led off. This time, she was joined by Demers, fellow freshmen Christie Tini and Audriana Hammond, sophomore Morgan Tong and Pedrick.
The third rotation saw the Chippewas move to the floor exercise, where Veglucci led off. She was joined by Johnson, Tong, Demers and Pedrick. The final rotation for the Chippewas was the vault, which saw an identical lineup.
Pedrick, who closed each rotation, was the 2019 Mid-American Conference Gymnast of the Year, the 2019 MAC vault and all-around champion, and a six-time MAC Gymnast of the Week.
She was a NCAA Regional Championship qualifier in the all-around last season, as well.
In addition to returning the MAC Gymnast of the Year, the Chippewas return the conference Freshman of the Year in Tong, who promises to build on an excellent freshman season that saw her post a 9.825 at the MAC championships.
"They haven’t skipped a beat," MacDonald said. "In fact, they’re better than they ever have been. I see them both as great leaders. They both have different qualities and different traits that they bring to the program."
MacDonald also said Pedrick and fellow Sydney Williams, who did not compete in Sunday's intrasquad, were named team captains for the 2020 season.
The first-year coach was also pleased with the performances of her freshmen, who were performing in McGuirk Arena for the first time.
"I think our freshman class did a tremendous job of stepping into roles that maybe they didn’t know they were ready for yet," she said. "I think it’s very important that we get into that flow and give them an opportunity to perform. That really helped today. Getting them used to the timing and how fast things work on a meet day versus a practice day."
The Chippewas were part of an exhibition quad that featured Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan and Michigan on Dec. 7, placing second behind the Wolverines.
CMU's meet against the Spartans is scheduled to start at 2 p.m. Saturday and will mark the beginning of the 2020 regular season. The Chippewas' first home meet is slated for Feb. 16 against Kent State.
