The Ball State University gymnastics team placed fourth out of five teams last Friday in an invitational hosted by the University of Kentucky. The Cardinals, 2-6 (1-5 Mid-American Conference), set a new team-high score with a 193.350.
Kentucky won the meet with a 195.250, and the University of North Carolina finished second with a score of 194.825.
The Cardinals continued to submit their weeks of practices' work by limiting the number of falls and continuing to reduce dropping tenths of points from elements of routines, coach Nadalie Walsh said.
"We had no falls, and we maybe counted one mistake," Walsh said. "They were having fun and nothing was forced. It was just really natural and it felt like they had true confidence instead of the kind when they tried to convince themselves that they could do it; the confidence was genuine."
Brittney Emmons competed in all four events and tied for first place overall on the vault with a career-high score of 9.875.
"I was so excited. I knew beforehand that it was going to be a great vault," Emmons said. "As soon as I did it, I couldn't believe it. Then, I saw the score and I couldn't believe it. I think I got taken out [in celebration] by coach [Walsh]."
In her first year as a collegiate gymnast, Emmons has shown her ability to help anchor down the Cardinals' rotation, Walsh said.
"I feel like we got exactly what we wanted in her as a recruit," Walsh said. "When I was recruiting her last year, she was the kid that's going to be able to perform under pressure and rise to the occasion, and she's doing that."
Among the four events - the vault, uneven bars, beam and floor routine - the Cardinals' routines were purged of many of the tendencies that were causing deductions from judges in prior meets.
"We're sticking more landings, but they have to hit their handstands," Walsh said. "The judges look at it [handstands] through very analytical eyes. It's either straight up, 45 degrees or 90 degrees. That's something that will pull our total bar score up a whole point."
Senior Teresa Phipps posted the highest score for the Cardinals on the uneven bars with a 9.725. Bibiana Rodriguez followed closely behind with a score of 9.700
Freshman Kayla Kmiecik led the Cardinals' pack of balance beam competitors with a career best score of 9.700.
Despite a fourth-place finish out of the five-team field, the Cardinals' fellow competition was quick to notice the improvements of Ball State gymnastics' second year under Walsh.
"The most rewarding thing from this meet was having all the coaches [from other schools] walk up to me and say, 'Wow, what a difference.'" Walsh said. "I want them to see the girls perform good gymnastics and to see them have fun. There are a lot of good messages being sent, and I was excited to hear those things."
Having competed in three meets during the past 12 days, the Cardinals will take full advantage of today's day off from practice to weigh the improvements that have been accumulating this year, Walsh said.
"Our girls had some good conversations on the bus [ride] about how they went through all of the small things they want to work on," Walsh said. "I think we're going to see a lot more team effort and doing things together as a team. What we're doing is working, we just have to do more of it."
The Cardinals are in action next when they head to East Lansing, Mich., at 2 p.m. Sunday against Michigan State University and California University.
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