Gymnastics team qualifies for regionals
Chris McCarty
CMU finished fifth in the NCAA Central region with a qualifying score of 195.09, placing No. 25 overall.
The meet takes place April 6 in Baton Rouge, La., at Louisiana State University.
“This is a great accomplishment for this team,” said Head Coach Jerry Reighard. “We have a competitive shot of doing very well.”
Louisiana State, Iowa State, Florida, Illinois State and New Hampshire will compete against CMU.
“We can contend with these teams,” Reighard said. “We feel that we have a great shot at making nationals.”
The top two teams advance to the NCAA championships April 17-20 at Tuscaloosa, Ala. The top individuals also will compete in nationals.
The Chippewas finished third in the 1999 NCAA regionals at LSU with a score of 193.55, which was the team’s first regional appearance.
The team finished fourth at the 2000 regionals with a score of 193.2.
Laura Chow was the lone gymnast to compete last year at the NCAA regionals. She finished with a 9.225 for 39th on the vault.
Six MAC all around competitors also were selected by the NCAA to compete at LSU.
Jessie James and Heather Langham of Kent State, Renee Planck of Ball State, Natalie Hoshimoto of Eastern Michigan and Marny Oestreng of Bowling Green rounded out the MAC selections.
