As the end of the season nears, the gymnastic team is focusing on improving routines. Just two meets remain for Ball State before the Mid-American Conference Championships.
The Cardinals (3-13, 1-4 MAC) have their final conference and home match of the season today at 7 p.m. in Irving Gym. Ball State will face conference foe Northern Illinois (4-6, 1-2 MAC) before heading to Arizona next Friday.
The gymnasts have worked hard in practice this week on improving their form, assistant coach Patrick Sheahan-Stahl said.
"We've just tried to clean up our routines just to get that extra tenth of a point because we need it," he said.
The meet will be the final home match for the team's five seniors: Quiana Williams, Kelli Davis, Jessica Surridge, Colleen Dupuis and Jessica Stevenson. The five have earned a combined of 14 letters.
Davis said she is confident the team will get a win on Senior Night.
"I think we're really strong," she said. "I know that we can win; we can beat NIU."
Ball State lost last weekend at MAC leader Central Michigan. The Cards only counted one fall in the meet, but would like to improve on the overall team score.
"This weekend, I think that we can hit all 24 out of 24 [routines] -- just meaning that we won't have any falls," Sheahan-Stahl said. "I think we're going to hit everything, and I think our overall team score is going to go up."
The key area of emphasis in practice has been on vault. The Cards have struggled with this event since Jenna Tarkington injured her elbow three weeks ago.
"We need to pick up the intensity on vault, so we've been vaulting every day this week," Sheahan-Stahl said.
Davis said the team is confident that the hard work in practice will pay off for a conference victory.
"I think that we all believe in ourself and when one person gets down our teammates lift us up," she said. "If we can do what we did this past weekend and avoid falls, then we can easily beat them."
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