The Ball State gymnastics team will head to Mt. Pleasant, Mich., on Sunday to take on Central Michigan. In a battle between Mid-American Conference rivals, the Cardinals and Chippewas will face off at 2 p.m.
The Cardinals (3-1, 1-1 MAC) come into the meet after splitting a three-way meet with Kent State and Illinois State. The Chippewas will be the third conference opponent the Cardinals have faced this season. The Cards beat Western Michigan earlier in the year for their lone conference win.
This will be the first MAC matchup for Central Michigan (4-2). The Chippewas enter the meet after coming off a loss to No. 18 Penn State.
The Cardinals will likely look to knock off the Chippewas by building on their previous performance on the floor exercise. The floor was one of their weakest events in the first two meets. However, in their latest competition it produced the highest total score of the four events.-á
"We spent a lot of time on it (floor), and that paid off," coach Mary Roth said.
Indeed, the work did pay off as junior Kelli Davis and freshman Jenna Tarkington both set career-highs in the event, while junior Jessica Surridge tied her best.
Even the exhibition scores (not counted toward team's total) were impressive. Freshmen Kaitlyn Wills and Nikki Howe recorded scores of 9.625 and 9.600, respectively.
With that event seemingly better, the attention turns toward improving on the balance beam. The Cards' weakest event last meet was on the beam, as they recorded their lowest beam score of the year.
Against Kent State and Illinois State, "Kelli Davis had a great routine, except she had a fall on beam," Roth said.-á
In the meets, when the pressure to perform is on, a fall is not uncommon.-á"That happens on beam a lot," said Roth.-á
The coaching staff tries to limit this occurrence as much as possible by using different techniques. "In practice, we are always trying to find ways to put them under pressure," said Roth.
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