GYMNASTICS: Ball State finishes off successful weekend

Team responds with win in second meet in three days

It was a clean sweep for the gymnastics team Sunday.

Ball State (4-7, 2-1 Mid-American Conference) won all four team events en route to a 192.325-187.75 drubbing of Bowling Green (1-6, 0-5) in Anderson Arena.

"I'm really happy with the girls' performances," coach Nadalie Walsh said. "They really went in there and did a really good job doing their routines."

More importantly than the win, Ball State put together another solid team effort, scoring above a 192 for the third time this season and second this weekend.

Walsh said the judging was harsher Sunday than in the team's first meet of the weekend.

"Some routines we did were actually better routines than we've ever done. We just didn't get rewarded for them," she said. "We'll just have to make sure we're digging deep and finding the really tiny errors so that next time the judges can't take anything away from us."

The Cardinals' premier event was the vault, scoring a season-best 48.625.

Sophomore Nicole Allen picked up two individual victories, placing first in the vault with a 9.8 and the all-around with a 38.725. She has 11 individual first-place results this season.

Sunday was the first time Allen did not set a career high, which she said acts as a motivator for next week.

"I definitely always try to push myself to do better and better," she said. "Even when I'm doing well, I just want to do that much better each time."

Junior Brittney Emmons picked up the Cardinals' other individual victory with a 9.8 in the floor exercise.

Walsh said the team performed well despite being put out for its second meet in three days, something the gymnasts were unaccustomed to.

"If we could have done [Sunday's] meet on Friday, our score would have been amazing," she said.

Freshmen Aftyn Siemer and Kristin Vignola posted career highs on the vault with a 9.75 and 9.675, respectively. Siemer tied for second on the vault.

Sophomore Morgan Coslow and junior Kayla Kmiecik had season bests in the meet. Coslow had a 9.675 on the vault and Kmiecik finished second on the uneven bars with a 9.65.

"I think it's an honor to be a leader [and] having everyone look up to you," Kmiecik said. "I know it's tough sometimes, but in the end it's very rewarding."

Bowling Green was led by event winners Monica Eaton (bars), Megan Harrington (beam) and Dawn Christman (floor).

The Cardinals' final three opponents of the regular season are MAC rivals. Ball State will start the stretch by hosting Northern Illinois on Friday.

Allen said the team wants to build on this weekend's results and that its attitude will go a long way to accomplishing that.

"We need to keep up the positivity in the gym, because that's where it starts," she said.

Weekend accomplishments

11th

Nicole Allen's beam routine Friday was the 11th best in school history

2

For the first time under Nadalie Walsh, Ball State earned its second MAC win of the season

3rd

Ball State's current rank in the MAC

3

Team season highs set — beam, vault and total score

20

Number of routines at a 9.5 or better in each meet 


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