First place in MAC on the line in meet against Kent State
The game circled on the calendars for most Central Michigan athletics teams all year is usually against Western Michigan.
But for the women’s gymnastics team, the one meet that stands out among the others is Kent State. This weekend the Chippewas will renew that rivalry when they take on the Golden Flashes at 1 p.m. Saturday in Kent, Ohio.
“We’re really looking forward to this weekend because right now they are ranked higher than us," said junior Kristin Teubner. "But I think we have a very good chance of beating them."
CMU will take its 9-1 record on the road to face off against a Kent State (7-1-1) program that currently ranks third in the Mid-American Conference and No. 14 nationally.
The team enters the match-up with a 30-24 lead in all-time victories, which has given them a boost of confidence going into the weekend.
Although Teubner has compiled a personal record of only 1-3 against Kent State, she said the team has tapped into their full potential and is on a level playing field with their rival.
Because of the important implications of this meet, the regular season winner of the meet typically takes a commanding lead of the MAC. CMU is coming off a 2009-10 season that saw it lose in the regular season, but win the MAC title at the end of the season.
Head coach Jerry Reighard said the key to his team being successful in this meet will come down to the changes made from last weekend.
“We know we have to be our best this week in order to win the regular season,” Reighard said. “This is a big meet for us. We most definitely need to be a lot cleaner and have to execute.”
Teubner said that despite the pressure surrounding this meet, the mindset in practice has not wavered from their usual weekly preparation.
“It’s basically business as usual,” she said. “We have been a littleb it more intense because this is a very important meet for us and it will be the deciding factor on who may be the conference champion.”
Numbers don’t lie
Statistically, CMU ranks above Kent State in both the team all-around (195.75), balance beam (48.9) and floor exercise (49.125). The Golden Flashes lead the other two categories, the vault and uneven bars, within the league. Because of the higher scores throughout the season, senior Cheryl Conlin said that one of the reasons why the competition is so tight between these two is because of the high performances both teams produce on a year-to-year basis.
“The other MAC teams are not where (we) and Kent are, so we’re the only ones in the MAC that have the potential to go to nationals so that plays a roll in how competitive we are against them,” Conlin said.
Individually, the Chippewas have been paced the past few weeks by Teubner and Conlin, who sit at first and second, respectively, in the MAC on the floor. Senior Andrea de la Garza will also look to continue her point streak, coming off her team-leading third place finish in the all-around (39.025) category last weekend.
For the Golden Flashes, their season average of 48.700 on the vault has landed them No. 22 nationally. They also rank No. 4 nationally on the uneven bars with a average of 49.060.
Comparatively, CMU has only garnered one Top 25 ranking and that is on the balance beam, (12th) with an average of 48.600.
