It's supposed to just be exhibition. It doesn't count for anything. But Saturday, sophomore Brittney Emmons showed that she was ready to put the Mid-American Conference on notice.
Emmons scored a 38.35 in the all-around to lead the Ball State University gymnastics team in its exhibition meet against the University of Kentucky. Emmons almost tracked down 2009 Southeastern Conference freshman of the year Whitney Rose, who won the all-around with a 38.8.
Emmons and Rose were within 0.3 of each other through the first three events. Going into the final event, Emmons needed a stumble from Rose on the balance beam to give her a chance to catch her with her floor exercise. However, Rose was solid on the beam, posting a 9.775 to clinch the all-around title.
Emmons was the Cardinals' top scorer in one event, but posted a series of consistent scores to generate a total that was almost as high as her only all-around performance from last season. She scored a 38.5 against Kentucky on Feb. 27.
"Emmons hit all four of her events. She did awesome," coach Nadalie Walsh said. "She's the rock of the team. You just always know she's going to do it. Every single of our girls needs to watch her and take that and apply it to themselves."
Overall, the Cardinals fell to the Wildcats 192.15 – 187.45. Walsh was happy with the performance that the Cardinals put on.
"We met a lot of our goals for bars and for beam," she said. "And we were safe. We didn't have a single girl get hurt, so that was really big."
Walsh said she felt like she received a strong contribution from the entire team.
"I feel like I could name off all of them for doing something really, really, really well," she said. "I could definitely see who is a competitor."
Kentucky coach Hajile "Mo" Mitchell said he was happy with the results of the meet as well.
"We accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. We got some jitters out of the way." he said. "The great part is that you get to compete against another team. We get to find out how our athletes will perform in a different environment in a different arena, and against a different team."
Both teams seemed to be in strong form for the preseason, posting scores comparable and beyond their 2008-2009 season. This was with a judging panel that Mitchell described as "really tough" on Saturday.
"It's OK. It gives us an idea of what we need to get on top of before Jan. 9 [Kentucky's season opener against Texas Woman's]," he said. "We're can out what [the judges] were looking for. That in itself makes it so beneficial for us."
Emmons had a career high on the uneven bars and was ahead of her balance beam season average from last year. Career highs were posted by sophomore Nichole Sleeper on the beam and sophomore Kayla Kmiecik on the floor. Senior Megan Howard bested her previous season average on the bars as well. The most "exhibition" part of the meet might have been the introductions, as neither team had their timing or placement down for the pre-game ceremonies.
Redshirt freshman Julie Cotter won the bars with a 9.75, a score that would have been the fifth best bars score of last season. It was the only win for Ball State gymnastics on Saturday. Emmons led the Cardinals in the vault with a 9.5. Freshman Tiffany Brodbeck and Sleeper shared the top Ball State beam mark with a 9.625.
Sophomore Ellie Carrico was the top Ball State gymnast on the floor exercise with a 9.625. Walsh said the freshmen really stepped up and performed on Saturday.
"Now they know what to expect," she said. "And some of them surprised themselves in a good way."
The freshmen now have a better idea of what it takes to be a college gymnast from this experience, she said.
"When you do gymnastics as a club competitor in high school, it's all what you do and here it's what we do," she said. "The team camaraderie [Saturday] was awesome."
Walsh was extremely happy with the team's performance on the bars. Along with event winner Cotter, she credited sophomore Katelyn Busacker and Brodbeck for their strong bar routines. Both coaches felt that Ball State was actually the more well-rounded team on the bars, even though Kentucky squeaked out a win in that event: 47.975 – 48.225.
"I was impressed with their bars," Mitchell said. "I think they beat us on bars."
Along with Rose, who won the vault and beam competitions, Kentucky was led by senior Emily Green who tied with Rose on the beam and won the floor exercise.
"Emily Green is a phenomenal athlete and I think she's realizing how good of an athlete that she is," Mitchell said. "And Rose is just a rose. A great competitor, a hard worker. I saw a lot of great stuff that I really, really liked."
One Cardinal gymnast who did struggle was 2009 All-MAC first team and NCAA Regional Qualifier Bibiana Rodriguez. Rodriguez had a fall in all three events she competed in. Freshman Morgan Coslow, who was expected to compete in the all-around, sat out the exhibition with a sprained foot that was suffered during a tumbling pass while rehearsing her floor routine Thursday. Walsh said that she will be OK, but did not want to risk further injury.
"[Coslow] will be a good surprise for everybody," Walsh said. "We'll just have to wait until January."
Both Ball State and Kentucky took advantage of the exhibition format. The Cardinals added several exhibition gymnasts on the balance beam, while Kentucky went above the requisite six competitors in several events. Kentucky had as many as 10 gymnasts compete in individual events. The chance to have extra competitors was beneficial to the team's development, Walsh said. They will take the scores given by the judges, and use them as the coaches make lineup decisions in the future. The opportunity to see another school in action was helpful as well, she said.
"I think that they could see that we are doing the same skills that they do," Walsh said. "Some of ours just need to be cleaner, performed a little bit better. I think it's a good confidence booster for these ladies to see that this could be their year."
Ball State will return to practice in preparation for their season opener against Western Michigan University on Jan. 10 in Kalamazoo, Mich. Walsh's goal to be "10 steps further" than where they are right now when they roll into meet the Broncos. Practice will the key to that success, she said.
"They can't expect to go to a meet and be amazing if they're not amazing in practice every single day," Walsh said. "They need to learn to practice perfectly. And that's what we're going to work on."
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