Gymnastics faces off with Eastern
Greg Burghardt
Since the loss, the Chippewas have gone 9-0 at home. Saturday at Rose Arena, CMU hopes to go undefeated in MAC play in its last regular competition.
“When we lost to Eastern, it was really hard on the team,” said senior Bethany Couturier. “It was a fluke, because we had so many mistakes as a team.”
At 20-5 overall and 5-0 in the MAC, this is the last competition before the Chippewas head to Bowling Green for the MAC Tournament next weekend.
“This is the last warm-up before MACs,” said Head Coach Jerry Reighard. “We want to make our goal of a 196 team score and if we break the school record again, that’s great.”
After scoring a record 196.325, the Chippewas dropped in terms of Regional Qualifying Score. The Chippewas fell to sixth in their region with an RQS of 195.370.
“We have a lot of motivation and we have to take care of our end,” Reighard said. “We control our own destiny, and if we’re not on top of our game, then someone else will control our destiny.”
Reighard said his team is capable of setting another school record.
“I certainly think we have the tools to break the record,” he said. “We were not perfect last weekend. Our beam and vault can improve and that’s what we need to work to improve.”
Reighard said the teams have different strengths.
“Eastern has a higher vault score than we do,” Reighard said. “I think we can take the lead on bars and if we’re doing our best, we can outscore them on the beam.
“On paper, we’re close on the floor exercise, but I think we’ll show them we are a better head-to-head.”
Reighard said he was happy with the performance of the balance beam squad.
“I think the whole beam team is better than we’ve shown,” he said. “If we make an improvement, it’s going to come from them.
“If we can balance what we did last weekend and go 196, I’ll be pleased,” Reighard said.
The Chippewas believe they will go undefeated in conference play.
“We don’t have any doubts that we’re going to win,” Couturier said. “We will finish the MAC season undefeated.”
Couturier said in order to stay in the running for regionals, they have to score higher than the team has for most of the season.
“We have to score 196 as a team without a doubt,” she said. “If we do that, then our RQS will go right back up where it was, and we’ll go to regionals.”
The Chippewas have to hit routines and not count any falls in order to win.
“We will go undefeated by hitting routines, and just by being as crisp as we can,” Couturier said. “I know that myself and the other seniors are just going to enjoy competing at home for the last time.”
