Gymnastics beats Western Michigan, tops 196 mark for first time in 2016
From day one, Head Coach Jerry Reighard's goal for the Central Michigan gymnastics team this season was to achieve a score of 196. They achieved that for the first time this season on Sunday, scoring a 196.125.
In front of an Alumni Day home crowd of 932, the Chippewas (11-1, 3-0 Mid-American Conference) defeated Western Michigan 196.125 to 193.750.
"We've been close all season, but we could never just get over the top," Reighard said. "I really felt like in this meet, we didn't leave anything on the table."
The last time Central Michigan boasted a score of 196 was in last year's Mid-American Conference Championships, when it scored a 196.275 on March 21, 2015.
CMU scored a 49 or higher on three of the four events with a 49.025, 49.150 and 49.125 in the vault, balance beam and floor routine respectively.
"I thought it was really rewarding," said senior Karlee Teet. "We've been working so hard on those little tenths and even those quarter-tenths and I thought everyone did a good job for fighting for those today."
Freshman Kasey Janowicz, sophomore Katy Clements and junior Caroline Fitzpatrick all surpassed the 9.8 mark on the balance beam, with Janowicz hitting 9.9.
Janowicz had two 9.9s and two 9.8s, winning two of the four events.
"They've been content," Reighard said. "The contentness just wasn't sitting well for me. You can't do that, you have to be at your maximum, and for the most part we were at our maximum today."
