Halle Moraw surprises on vault, helps gymnastics stay undefeated
For the first time this season, No. 19 Central Michigan gymnastics trailed its opponent. To make matters worse, CMU was beginning the vault, arguably the team’s worst event.
Chippewas head coach Jerry Reighard mixed up the lineup, putting juniors Halle Moraw and Tori Garcia on vault.
“Bowling Green put us in a situation for the first time where we were behind,” Reighard said. “I was kind of anxious (about) how we would respond to that. I got everybody together and I said, ‘this is what great teams are made of. You’ve got to answer the call.’”
The Chippewas answered the call, with Moraw, sophomore Kirsten Petzold and sister Brittany Petzold each scoring a 9.875 on the vault. CMU scored a 49.25 as a team in the event. It was the fourth-highest team score on the vault in program history.
“They were after us and they gave us a run for our money,” Moraw said. “We had to go all out, which we try to do every time. I think it was kind of a good thing we were down by a tenth going into vault. We knew that we couldn’t leave anything on the table. We had to go all out and we did that.”
Moraw notched a meet-high 9.925 on floor after an impressive outing Friday against Eastern Michigan, scoring a 9.875 on vault, a 9.725 on beam and a 9.85 on floor.
Sunday was the first time Moraw has vaulted since her freshman year.
“I think it’s a real testimony to what an athlete can do when they really want to,” Reighard said. “With Halle and many of the other athletes, they practice to be winners. I’m just kind of in awe. This is what we wanted to see from this team and as a coach, you don’t know until it actually happens. It’s been a great experience.”
Moraw was not the only high-scoring Chippewa, with Taylor Noonan scoring a 9.9 on balance beam and both Brittany Petzold and senior Becca Druien scoring at or above a 39.15 in all-around.
“Everyone had their moment, but getting (Moraw) back in vault was great,” Druien said. “She threw up two huge scores for us that helped us.”
Overall, CMU's score of 196.5 on Sunday was the fifth-highest in program history, a tenth shy of their score in last weekend’s Michigan/Illinois Challenge.
“I thought we really came together and showed what we could do,” Moraw said.
