Chippewa gymnastics drops conference opener at EMU
Following a loss to Illinois to open the season, Central Michigan gymnastics hoped to bounce back in a big way by taking down the reigning Mid-American Conference champions. The Chippewas were able to put up a fight all night long but would ultimately come up short, falling to Eastern Michigan 193.525-192.925 at the George Gervin GameAbove Center on Friday evening.
CMU managed to steal the floor exercise from EMU, but the Eagles stood tall, winning the vault, uneven parallel bars, and the beam. Despite EMU’s handle on the team event scores, it was first team All-MAC honoree Hannah DeMers that stole the show, recording individual wins in 3 rotations (uneven parallel bars, beam, and floor), while tying with Eastern Michigan senior Kara Roberts for the vault title.
DeMers was one of only two gymnasts to compete in all four events. The other, Eastern Michigan junior Hadyn Crossen, posted an all-around score of 38.350, compared to DeMers’ 39.400 mark.
The only other Chippewas to finish top-5 in their respective events were freshman Avah Anthes (vault), junior Savana Kotas (uneven parallel bars), senior Sierra DeMarinis (beam). Aleysia Kolyvanova and Katie Kowalski both recorded top-5 finishes in the floor exercise.
CMU recorded solid performances as a team in both the vault and the balance beam rotations but were narrowly edged out by EMU in both events, as Central Michigan scored 48.500 and 48.850 respectively, compared to Eastern’s 48.600 and 48.900. The Chippewas’ win in the floor exercise was due in large part to mistakes on their opponent’s end. CMU took advantage, winning 47.400-47.125.
The Chippewas’ conference slate continues as they head to Bowling Green to take on the Falcons next Friday, Jan. 21st.
