In a highly anticipated matchup between the top-two teams in the Mid-American Conference, the Eastern Michigan women’s gymnastics team and Central Michigan University did not disappoint.
The Eagles (8-1, 3-0 MAC) set a new program record with a 195.600 notching a slim victory over CMU by two-tenths of a point as CMU finished with a 195.400.
“Great meet today. It was exciting, it was close the entire way,” EMU coach Jay Santos said. “Both teams were hitting and both teams looked great.”
The Eagles started the night off on vault, anchored by sophomore Kendall Valentin who scored a 9.825. The Chippewas started on the balance beam and saw strong performances from senior Karlee Tent and sophomore Bryttany Kaplan who both scored 9.850s. Following the first event, the Eagles trailed 48.875 to 48.825.
Heading into the second event of the night, the Eagles moved to the uneven bars where redshirt sophomore Lacey Rubin scored a career-high 9.875. This helped the Eagles tie it up going into the third event of the night at 97.675.
The third event found the Eagles on the balance beam which has been their strongest event all season and they had a strong showing scoring a 48.950. The Eagles saw 9.8’s from Rubin, junior Natalie Gervais and freshman Megan Hultgren.
“Beam has been doing fantastic for us all year long,” Santos said. “I don't know how much more we can say about them. Every week, they show up and they don't give anything away and they fight for every little bit up there. They look so strong, and it is great to see.”
Throughout the night, the Eagles and the Chippewas kept going back and forth as they were never more than two-tenths of a point apart.
Going into the final event, the Eagles led by .125 and did not lose their momentum on the floor, notching their highest event total of the night with a 48.975. Sophomore Rachel Slocum anchored the floor with a 9.85. Senior Kimberly Ebeyer, junior Sydney McEachern and sophomore Catie Conrad also scored over 9.8.
Conrad had her strongest all-around score of her collegiate career with a 39.1 which included the career high on the floor exercise with a 9.8.
Looking Forward:
The Eagles will get two days rest before they head to Ann Arbor Monday to take on the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland in a tri-meet. The meet is scheduled to start at 7 p.m.
Eagles Results via EMUEagles.com (*denotes career high, # denotes program record)
Team 195.600#
Vault 48.825
Kendall Valentin 9.825
Rachel Slocum 9.775
Catie Conrad 9.775
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.75
Julia Schwartz 9.7
Sydney McEachern 9.625
Bars 48.850
Lacey Rubin 9.875*
Kendall Valentin 9.775
Catie Conrad 9.75
Kirsten Gendron 9.75*
Natalie Gervais 9.70
Sydney McEachern 9.65
Beam 48.95
Lacey Rubin 9.8
Megan Hultgren 9.8
Natalie Gervais 9.8
Catie Conrad 9.775
Kendall Valentin 9.775
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.725
Floor 48.975
Rachel Slocum 9.85
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.825
Sydney McEachern 9.825*
Catie Conrad 9.8*
Megan Marino 9.675
Natalie Gervais 9.55
All-Around
Catie Conrad 39.1*
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