Just days after posting the best meet score in school history, the Eastern Michigan women’s gymnastics team topped that score Monday night in a tri-meet in Ann Arbor with a 195.975 against the University of Michigan and the University of Maryland.
The Eagles (9-2, 2-0 MAC, 195.221 avg.) score was able to notch a win over Maryland but they fell short against the no. three ranked Michigan, who scored a 197.425. The meet saw individual career highs for four different Eagles as well.
"It's been a great weekend," EMU coach Jay Santos said. "They were on for the meet on Friday night, and then the team took it one step further tonight. We talked about building on Friday's meet, and they took that confidence from the other night. They looked very comfortable, and they looked great tonight.”
The Eagles started the evening off on the balance beam and didn’t need to count a score lower than a 9.8. Junior Natalie Gervais and sophomore Catie Conrad tied for the best score on beam with 9.85 each.
The Eagles then proceeded to the floor exercise which, of the four events, has been the hardest event for them. Sophomore Megan Marino led off the rotation with a career-high 9.725. Sophomore Rachel Slocum, as usual, anchored and scored the event high for the Eagles with a 9.8.
For the third rotation, the Eagles moved to the vault which was highlighted by Slocum scoring a 9.9, tying her career-high for the event. Conrad scored a 9.85 and senior Kimberly Ebeyer scored a career-high with a 9.80.
“It was huge,” Santos said on Slocum’s vault. “I always tell her just get through the ceiling. She’s super powerful, she’s super quick and it showed on that vault.”
For the final event, the Eagles moved to the uneven bars where sophomore Kendall Valentin scored a career-high 9.925. The Eagles also had strong contributions from Gervais, Conrad and redshirt sophomore Lacey Rubin.
For the second meet in a row, the Eagles went 24-for-24 avoiding a fall.
“We hit 24-for-24 again,” Santos said. “I tell them all the time, good things will happen when we hit 24-for-24. This weekend is a prime example of that.”
Looking Forward:
The Eagles stay on the road as they travel to Bowling Green State University on Saturday to take on BGSU and Southeast Missouri State University. The meet is scheduled to start at 6 p.m.
Eagles Results per EMUEagles.com (*denotes career high, # denotes program record)
Team 195.975#
Vault 49.025
Rachel Slocum 9.9
Catie Conrad 9.85
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.80*
Kendall Valentin 9.75
Julia Schwartz 9.725
Sydney McEachern 9.725
Bars 49.100
Kendall Valentin 9.925*
Lacey Rubin 9.825
Natalie Gervais 9.80
Catie Conrad 9.80
Kirsten Gendron 9.75
Sydney McEachern 9.65
Beam 49.125
Catie Conrad 9.85
Natalie Gervais 9.85
Lacey Rubin 9.825
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.80
Kendall Valentin 9.80
Megan Hultgren 9.675
Floor 48.725
Rachel Slocum 9.80
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.775
Sydney McEachern 9.775
Catie Conrad 9.75
Megan Marino 9.725*
Kendall Valentin 9.725
All-Around
Catie Conrad 39.250*
Kendall Valentin 39.200*
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