Gymnastics looking for high score to climb rankings in opening meet
Central Michigan gymnastics begins its season by hosting Centenary College, Wisconsin-La Crosse and Wisconsin Eau Claire 1 p.m. Sunday at the CMU events center.
Sophomore Brittany Petzhold believes the team will be ready after getting some athletes back from injury.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” she said. “I think our team has come a long ways and we’ve had a few injuries, and we’re all getting them back, so hopefully we’ll be what we’ve been expecting.”
Head coach Jerry Reighard says the team will be ready but is glad the meet is on Sunday, and not Saturday.
“We will be ready by the meet time, it’s going to take everyday for us to solidify the line up we really want,” Reighard said. “I think we will be ready on that Sunday. I’m just glad the meet is not on Saturday because we are going to need it.”
Setting the tone for the rest of the season is a theme for the Chippewas at their opening meet. They not only want to impress the judges but climb the rankings.
Petzhold explains that the pressure can only build after the season opener.
“Well the first meet is a big set for our season because we have to do good in order to be ranked high, and if we don’t do good we’re going to have to climb the ranks and get higher every week, which will put more pressure on us to make it to nationals,” She said. “I think we’ll do really good if we all do what we do in practice, and what we do everyday, practice hard and efficiently.”
CMU will not only be competing against the teams that travel to the meet, but as Reighard explains the standard of scoring that is set across the country.
Reighard has set the team’s goal to score at least a 9.7, the highest score is a 10.0.
“The first meet always sets the tone, you want to come out hitting 24 routines, that’s always the challenge,” Reighard said. “In our sport the score is really important, yeah you want to defeat your opponent and that’s crucial but we are being measured by the same yardstick from Maine to California and that is the number that we produce.”
The goal of 9.7 may not be an easy task the team that is made up of mostly freshmen. Petzhold is planning to go above the call of 9.7 to help the freshmen out.
“We all have goals to get 9.7’s, but my goal is to get 9.8’s so I can have my teams back and have the freshmen,” She said. “We have a lot of freshmen on the team and they don’t really know how to compete yet for Central, so if I could get higher than a 9.7 or 9.8 it would be better for them.”
Confidence is a trait that is gained over a successful period of time in sports.
Senior Samantha Piotrowski is confident that her team will pull it together for the first meet. The key according to Piotrowski is to gain confidence for the freshmen on the team.
“The first meet of the season definitely sets the tone for the season because basically it’s the first look that judges have at you, and the first look that the competition has at you, and it’s all over the internet now so everyone is going to know how the first week went.” Piotrowski said. “It’s your first go at it so it’s important to start on top. It’s a long season, so you have to start on top to continue it.”
Piotrowski paused, and then put her confidence into the team.
“I think we are going to pull it together, we’ve had a really long winter break and we have put in the numbers and the hours and I think it’s going to pay off,” she said. “It’s all going to come together.”
