Seven highly-ranked schools are coming together at 2 p.m. Saturday in Kalamazoo, Mich. for the Mid-American Conference gymnastics championship.
Ball State University's opponents include Central Michigan , Western Michigan, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Bowling Green and Kent State.
The competition is bigger than what she has been accustomed to, Coach Lisa Simonton said. Still, she is preparing herself and her team in the same manner as she prepared previous teams for championship competitions.
"It's more about mental and positive focus training, versus physical training," Simonton said. "If they don't have it now, they're not going to have it. It's just the fine-tuning and letting autopilot take over."
This weekend is the last for all teams to add to their regional qualifying scores. However, Simonton said that at this point it doesn't look like the team, or any individual, will qualify to the NCAA Regionals.
"This is the toughest region in the country," Simonton said. "We've got outstanding competition."
Simonton said another unfortunate factor in Ball State's chances of getting to postseason is that the team didn't have a meet last weekend. She said the gymnasts train to peak at the end of season and the week off made the team miss out on an opportunity to get one, maybe two, more scores that could make a complete difference.
The Cardinals plan to set the standard on their first rotation, floor. The floor exercise has shown high scores throughout the season. Six of the team's floor routines have upgrades that haven't been showcased at a competition yet.
After the floor exercise Ball State will go to the vault, then to the uneven bars and the team will end on the balance beam.
"I think that's going to be the event that is going to separate the teams, who hits beam," Simonton said.
Her plan is to have the team do what it knows how to do and not focus on anything else.
"We're excited and we have potential for a champion on every event," Simonton said.
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