Gymnastics wins second matchup against Illinois State
In their second matchup this season, the Central Michigan University gymnastics team secured a victory over Illinois State, winning 194.525-192.025.
The Chippewas rise to a 5-1 record (3-0 in Mid-American Conference).
CMU also matched up with ISU in its season opener on Jan. 6.
The Chippewas earned 48.725 points on the high bars. Senior Bryttany Kaplan secured the high score with an even 9.8. She was followed by sophomore Dennelle Hill who scored 9.775.
Points kept coming CMU’s way as it won the next two events, both vault and floor, putting it up 97.450-95.750 over the Redbirds.
Senior Katy Clements finished with a score of 9.875 and junior Abbie Rose Zoeller was close behind her with 9.825 as the Chippewas won the third set.
The Chippewas were up by 2.875 points at the end of the third rotation, 146.400-143.525.
ISU secured the win in the beam event, edging out CMU 48.500-48.125.
Head coach Jerry Reighard said he’d make some lineup changes against ISU after CMU lost its first meet of the season to Southern Utah University on Feb. 2 by .150 points.
“There’s some injuries with the team,” he said. “So, I experimented to see what different players could do in different events (against ISU). I thought it’d be a good opportunity to let others try and perform in different events that they don’t normally get to participate in.”
The experimentation reached the balance beam event where the Chippewas suffered their only event loss.
“We’ll have to look at that and see what we can do about it because it should be higher,” Reighard said.
The Chippewas next meet is against Kent State at 1 p.m. Feb. 18 at McGuirk arena.
