MAC Gymnastics Championships Preview
KENT, Ohio - The 2015 Mid-American Conference Gymnastics Championships are set for Saturday, March 21 at 2 p.m. Ball State, Bowling Green, Central Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Kent State, Northern Illinois and Western Michigan will compete for the title. For all the information you need to know, check out
Championship Central.
Ball State
The Cardinals tied the school record for highest team score in a meet this season when they posted a 195.500 mark in a conference meet against at Kent State March 8.
Ball State also tied the school record in the vault with a 49.100 mark in a league meet vs. Northern Illinois.
Denasiha Christian leads the team and was named to the All-MAC Second Team for a second straight season in 2015. She was first or tied for first five times on the vault this year plus was first or tied for first on the floor in 2015. Christian set personal bests in three events and tied the Ball State school record with a 9.95 on the floor. She placed in the top five in 10 of 11 meets on the vault and seven times on the floor as a junior.
Bowling Green
Bowling Green scored a season-best 195.700 on Senior Day to defeat Kent State (195.050) for the first time since 2002. BGSU had not beaten Kent State in Bowling Green since 1999. The Golden Flashes entered the weekend having defeated the Falcons 18 straight times. The Falcons won bars (49.075–48.925), beam (48.750–48.300) and floor (48.975–48.775), while also scoring a 48.900 on vault. The 49.075 on bars is a season best for the Orange and Brown. Bowling Green's 48.975 is the second-best score on floor this year, and the 48.900 on vault ranks third in 2015. Senior Jamilah Ali tied for first on vault by scoring a 9.850, while sophomore Rachel Reis scored a career-best 9.850 to win bars.
A win at the MAC Championships would be Bowling Green's first since 1985. The Falcons also placed first at the conference championships in 1982 and 1983. If the Falcons place second, it will be the program's best finish since the 1987 team also placed second. A third-place finish would be Bowling Green's third top-three finish over the last 25 years. The 2014 and 1991 teams both finished third.
Central Michigan
The Chippewas, who are ranked 21st, will vie for their sixth consecutive title Saturday at the championships at Kent State. CMU is coming off a win over Western Michigan which gave it its first regular-season MAC crown since 2012.
CMU posted a 196.225 team score a week ago in Kalamazoo, their second-highest total of the season and it marked the fifth time they have crested the magical 196 mark this season. Four of those 196-plus scores have come in CMU's last five meets.
"You can't have a peak performance for an entire 12-meet season," CMU coach Jerry Reighard said. "Those non-peak performances are hard to accept, but they do keep you centered about what you need to do. Looking back, they really guided us and kept us on track for what we needed to do."
A first place this weekend would give CMU the MAC title sweep and would help build the Chippewas' resumé and momentum heading into the NCAA Regional in two weeks.
Eastern Michigan
The Eagles placed sixth overall at the 2014 Mid- American Conference Championships as they hosted the meet at the Convocation Cen- ter, March 22. The Green and White score a 193.850, recording its highest score of the meet with a 48.650 on the bars.
Eagles Score third-Highest Tally in School History: Despite falling to Northern Illinois in its final regular season meet of the 2015 campaign, the Green and White earned the third-highest score in school history with a 195.525, including a title from Kendall Valentin and Natalie Gervais.
Anna Willette placed in the top-three 17 times in the 2015 campaign, including six top- three finishes on the vault, three top-three finishes on the bars, four on the beam and two on the floor. Willette has earned a total of 13 titles in her senior season as an Eagle, including six all-around titles, four vault titles, two bar titles and one beam title, while ranking in a tie for sixth in the conference on the vault. In the 2015 campaign, Willette surpassed her personal bests on the vault and floor earning career-high scores of 9.875 and 9.800, re- spectively, while tying her personal-best on the beam with a 9.850.
Kent State
Kent State aims to protect their home gymnasium and win the tournament title for the first time since 2009. Coming into Kent, Central Michigan is trying to win their sixth straight tournament title as they won the regular season title this season, their first since 2012.
The Flashes dropped their regular season meet and last MAC meet at Bowling Green, 195.700-195.050. Brooke Timko and Chelsea Drooger led the way for Kent State on the vault with a first place tie with a score of 9.850. Michaela Romito, Drooger and Timko all three tied for second on bars with a 9.825.
Rachel Stypinski continued to shine in her first collegiate season as she took first on the balance beam, 9.875, and first on the floor with a 9.925. Nicolle Eastman tied for second on beam with a 9.800.
Northern Illinois
NIU (11-4, 4-2) enters this year's event brimming with confidence following a record-setting season. The Huskies clinched second place in the MAC and set the school record for team all-around score with a 195.800-195.525 win over Eastern Michigan in the regular season finale last Sunday.
"This team feels really good about where they're at," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "To put a four-event meet together like we did last week against Eastern Michigan to end the regular season was a great thing. The record was great thing. This team is still chasing 196.00 and they want to win the MAC.
Senior Amanda Stepp (Lapeer, Mich./Lapeer East) and sophomore Megan Greenfield (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South) scored a personal best 9.900 on the vault in 2015. Stepp, the league's reigning MAC Gymnast of the Week, did it twice in fact, while scoring a 9.900 on the floor exercise as well. Both vault and floor scores rank fourth.
In addition to pursuing its first MAC title in school history, NIU is looking to earn the school's first NCAA bid as a team. If the Huskies don't make it as a team, there are several Huskies looking for NCAA bids as individuals.
Western Michigan
With the young team of two juniors, four sophomores, and two freshman, Western Michigan had a record breaking season in 2015. The Broncos broke the all-time school record twice this season with scores of 195.725 against Central Michigan and 196.175 against Eastern Michgian.
The Broncos finish the regular season with a 6-4 overall record, going 3-3 in Mid-American Conference duals.
Jessi Buis found herself on the All-MAC team for the second straight year, as she was a Second Team selection in 2014. Buis ranks as the top vaulter in the conference this season, leading the MAC with a 9.855 RQS and a 9.8 season average. She won the event in four of the five MAC duals she competed, and took third in the other.
Kelsey Hood competed as an all-arounder in all nine meets this season and maintains a 38.935 RQS. She scored a season high 39.200 against Eastern Michigan, which ranked as the second highest all-around score produced in the MAC this season, and the third highest in WMU history.
