GYMNASTICS: Career day earns Emmons MAC Gymnast of the Week honors

Sophomore tallied three career-highs, equaled another, in meet vs. Illinois State

Ball State University sophomore gymnast Brittney Emmons was named the Mid-American Conference Gymnast of the Week Tuesday afternoon.

"Getting the title never crossed my mind," she said. "Now that it's happened, it's pretty cool that I won it."

Emmons had one of the best all-around performances in program history in Friday's loss at Illinois State University, tallying three career-highs and tying another. Her career-highs came in the all-around (38.300), beam (9.750) and bars (9.800), while she tied her career-high of 9.875 on the vault.

Her all-around score is the third-best all-time at Ball State and the highest score ever recorded in a regular season meet.

"When they told me it was the third highest score ever, I really couldn't believe it," Emmons said. "Now I want to work to get the top score."

The score is also the highest in the conference this year.

Emmons has also been dominant on the floor exercise this season. She is currently the No. 23 all-around gymnast in the country, according to GymInfo.

Coach Nadalie Walsh said that she was happy to have one of her gymnasts honored. She said that she has been working with Emmons to fine tune all of her events throughout the year.

"She definitely has the potential to be at regionals again," Walsh said.

Walsh said that she wants Emmons to qualify for regionals for the second-straight year, but this time on all-around. Emmons competed at the NCAA Central Regionals on vault and floor in 2009. She echoed Walsh's sentiments on her individual goals.

"I would love to represent Ball State and the MAC," she said.

Emmons said her first priority is to get her team to regionals; individual accomplishments are secondary.

Despite losing the meet Friday, Ball State had a near-perfect meet against Illinois State, with 19 of 20 clean routines.

The Cardinals lost 194.15-193.925 for their third straight loss by less than a point.

However, Ball State's 193.925 score was the highest for the program under coach Nadalie Walsh and best overall since 2004.

This is the first weekly award from the MAC for Ball State since Nichole Sleeper was named the conference's Specialist of the Week for her performance at the University of Pennsylvania on Jan. 9, 2009. It is the first Gymnast of the Week award since Erica Gilkerson in 2008.

Sophomore Katelyn Busacker was nominated for the weekly specialist award after tying for first on the beam and setting a career-high on the bars.

Emmons and the Cardinals return to action at 1 p.m. Sunday when they host Bowling Green State University at Worthen Arena.


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