The Eastern Michigan University’s women’s gymnastics team won its senior night meet, beating Western Michigan University, 194.500-194.125 on Feb. 15.
Shawna Ciaramella, Miranda Jarvis, Taylor Patterson and Ashley Quinton are the EMU seniors moving on after this season.
Quinton scored a 9.750 to take second place overall on the bars and the best score for EMU in the event.
Redshirt-junior Kaylee Meyers was also honored in the senior night event, along with Chantelle Loehner, and posted the best score of the night for EMU with a 9.850 on the floor. Loehner placed second on the floor with a 9.825, which tied for second highest score for EMU.
Freshman Bianca Jordaan led the Eagles in the vault contest with a 9.825. Sophomore Khadijah Hudson and junior Anna Willette both scored a 9.775 to take second in the contest for EMU. Willette also won the beam event for EMU with a 9.825.
After the meet coach Steve Wilce spoke about Willette’s performance and how she affects the team.
“Anna’s always good. She is always on,” Wilce said. “Anna quietly is maybe our best athlete. She doesn’t get the accolades, but she never misses.”
Other contributors for EMU were Meyers and Carrina Lo Bello on the beam with a 9.750 for each of them.
Wilce was critical of his team’s mistakes, but he stayed constructive and was happy that they were able to get the job done and get the win.
“We needed everything tonight. We made some mistakes, but we did enough to get the job done,” Wilce said. “It’s another 194.500 and for us in past years has been a high water mark and now it’s becoming an average mark. We’ve got to find a way to get to 195.”
EMU had the top score in three out of the four events on the night.
This win brings EMU to 3-6 overall and 1-3 in the Mid-American Conference. This win snaps a 10-meet losing streak in the MAC.
EMU gymnastics meets again Feb. 26 for a meet against the United States Air Force Academy in Colorado. EMU will compete against Air Force in a six-day period starting with the aforementioned Feb. 26 meeting.
Wilce had kind things to say about the departing seniors and how the team would move forward.
“The seniors are ground work for our success. They have all made significant impact on our team,” Wilce said. “This class brought a higher skill level to our team. We will miss them.”
