Gymnastics hosts Ball State for second place
Chris McCarty
The gymnastics team hosts Ball State for its regular season finale.
“There’s a lot riding on this meet,” Head Coach Jerry Reighard said. “The winner gets a better start at the MAC championship.”
“Ball State is a hungry team, desperately needing a win, we can’t take them lightly.”
Ball State, 3-2 in the MAC, finished fourth at the Progress Energy Invitational with a score of 192.45 at North Carolina State last weekend.
“The Cardinals are a good team,” Reighard said. “Nothing will be secure untill the last floor exercise routine.”
He said both teams look to score big in order to qualify for the NCAA regionals.
Central is 10-9 overall, 4-3 in the MAC, and is seeking its third NCAA regional bid. CMU is fifth in the NCAA Central region.
The Maroon and Gold have a regional qualifying score of 194.35, which tops the MAC and has a team average of 193.332.
In one week, the gymnastics team went from 11th to fifth in the region.
“All of our hard work is finally paying off,” Reighard said. “We are on the right path. We know we will have to earn it because every team is so close in our region.”
The top five seeds are guaranteed a regional spot, the sixth team has to be selected by the NCAA.
The loser of Saturday’s meet will finish fourth or fifth in the MAC, which would give the team a tough rotation at the MAC championship, Reighard said.
For senior co-captain Sarah Nelson, it’s her last home meets. She tied her career-score with a 9.85 on the uneven bars last week.
In 2001, she started all 11 meet on the bars and twice scored her career high. She scored 9.675 or better in eight meets.
Her sophomore season, she competed on bars in all 13 meets and her freshman year she started nine meets on bars.
She scored a 9.7 at the NCAA regionals and five times scored better than a 9.65.
CMU will no longer have the services of junior Tammy Verrinder, who left the team for undisclosed reasons.
“She is no longer a part of the program, she asked to be released and it was granted to her. Other than that I have no comment,” Reighard said.
Ball State defeated the Chippewas 194.425 to 191.8 last season at the Cardinal Classic. CMU won bars and the vault.
