Heartbreaking tiebreaker
Chris McCarty

The gymnastics team saw its dreams evaporate Saturday after finishing second at the NCAA Central Regional in the University of Alabama.

CMU was in second place with a team score of 196.359 and thought it had wrapped up a bid to nationals. The only problem was that they had tied with Auburn, so the judges went to the tiebreaker criteria.

The sixth scores for all four routines were counted. After counting every score, Auburn secured the bid to the National Tournament with a score of 235.225. The Chippewas finished with a score of 233.775.

Alabama finished first with an overall team score of 197.55. The Chippewas beat No. 12 Oklahoma, who finished in fourth place with 196.3. Michigan State was fifth with a 194.65, and Kent State took sixth with a score of 193.95.

“I am very proud of the team,” said Head Coach Jerry Reighard. “The entire season has been incredible for these young ladies. Very few people will know the real story about what really happened down in Alabama and how hard each and every athlete fought to represent CMU.”

Reighard said it was a heartbreaking way for most of the gymnasts to end the season.

“The devastating part about the end of the season are the tears of the seniors who gave everything they had and didn’t make it to the National Championship,” Reighard said. “You can’t erase the tears or the heartache, and you can't express to them that it’s OK, because it isn’t, and they're never going to get another chance to make it OK.”

The first event for CMU was the uneven bars, where senior Katie Teft qualified for the NCAA National Championship with a score of 9.9. Her performance was good for a first place tie with Courtney Puckett of Auburn.

CMU turned in a season-high team score on the balance beam of 49.3. Sophomore Sara Burtinsky tied for third place with a 9.9. Alabama’s Kristen Sterner won the event with a score of 9.95.

Although the floor exercise traditionally had been the Chippewas best event, the team struggled Saturday. The team managed only to score 49.125 as a team. Senior Michele Orloski tied for fifth place with 9.875. Ashley Miles of Alabama posted a 10 to win.

The final event was the vault and CMU’s Shanna Duggan tied for fourth place with a score of 9.85. Miles took first place with a score of 9.95.

In the all-around, senior Sarah Dame and sophomore Kara Reighard qualified for Nationals with scores of 39.3 and 39.2. The top spot was won by Sterner with 39.625.

After the season high on the balance beam, Reighard said his team lost some ground on the floor exercise.

“I really felt we let some things slip on floor,” he said. “For the first time all year, we had too much adrenaline going into vaulting, and it was the first time all year that we didn’t stick one landing.”

The scoring definitely was tighter, as the four judge system made it nearly impossible to disguise any minor mistakes.

“I thought the bar routines were as good as they were at MACs, and I think the judges were pretty severe on the scores they gave us,” Reighard said. “I didn't agree with the numbers they were putting up and I thought that we were the second best bar team there. We stuck every dismount and it was almost like it was all overlooked.”

Reighard said the crowd of almost 4,000 was surprised at the talent CMU possessed.

“The only people in the arena that were not surprised by our performance, were the people from CMU,” Reighard said. “No one counted us in, they questioned whether our northern scores were legitimate, and we proved to the gymnastics world that we are a team that is legit. We made an impact that we’ve never made before.”

This was the last competition for fifth-year senior Bethany Couturier.

“I always wanted to go to nationals, and sometimes it’s just not meant to be,” Couturier said. “There life after gymnastics, but it’s hard because that’s all I’ve known since I was three years old. I am so proud of everybody because we turned so many heads, and to have Alabama’s crowd cheering for us just speaks volumes.”

The Chippewas finished the season at 30-7 overall and 12-0 in the MAC, but were not expected to compete with the likes of Alabama, Auburn and Oklahoma.

“It’s what we’ve been doing all year, we are good, and when we go ahead to head we are going to beat a lot of teams” said senior Michele Orloski. “It’s a good way to end my career, and I’m so happy with how we did, but it’s hard to swallow because of the way we lost.”

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