The first season of the Nadalie Walsh era for Ball State University gymnastics is in the books as the Cardinals finished sixth in the Mid-American Conference Championship on Saturday.
The Cardinals (1-12) turned in a score of 192.100, while host Kent State University won the championship 195.675. The score was the second-highest team score of the season for Ball State and the fourth-straight time the team scored better than 190.
Walsh said she was happy with her team's performance despite the sixth place finish among the seven teams.
"We didn't have a single fall, which is a huge accomplishment," she said. "... Everybody hit, and we ended up sixth, only a couple tenths out of fourth."
Senior Brittany George led the Cardinals with a 9.700 on the beam in her final performance, while sophomore Bibiana Rodriguez was the top performer on the bars with a 9.700. Seniors Kristin Sprague and Erica Gilkerson tied for the team lead on the floor along with sophomore Laura Shockey with a score of 9.675. Gilkerson also led the team with a 9.725 on the vault.
Gilkerson came into the championship with a chance of qualifying for the NCAA Regionals on the floor. However, her score wasn't high enough, and her Ball State career came to an end.
She said it would have been nice for her career to be extended but she'll get past it.
"My four years of eligibility is up, and I have to move on," Gilkerson said. "I'll just be cheering for Ball State the rest of my life."
While Gilkerson will move on, Walsh will move forward for next season. She said the team accomplished a lot in her first season as coach and that the program is on the way up.
"I feel like the program got built up a lot," she said. "I feel like we had a lot of good meets, and we are going to build on that."
Walsh is the third coach in four years for Ball State. Gilkerson has experienced at least one season with each coach but said this season was the best.
"Out of all four seasons this was definitely the best one," she said. "God knew what kind of coach we needed, and Nadalie came and just changed our outlook."
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