Bowling Green State University Athletics
Bowling Green State University
MAC Championships
Gymnastics Ready to Vie for MAC Championship
March 21, 2013 | Gymnastics
Kalamazoo, Mich. - The Bowling Green State University gymnastics team takes on the Mid-American Conference Saturday, with a shot of winning the program's first MAC team title since 1985.
The Falcons moved up to fourth in the MAC this week, after achieving their highest score of the year in an impressive 195.175-192.950 win over Western Michigan. Bowling Green is one of only three teams in the MAC to break the 195 mark this season.
With a 3-3 record against MAC opponents, the Falcons also finished third in the regular season, earning dual-meet wins against Eastern Michigan, Ball State and WMU.
"This has been one of the most competitive years in MAC gymnastics," said head coach Kerrie Beach. "There is no doubt we will need to have a superb meet to succeed on Saturday. The team has been training aggressively and is well-prepared. It is my hope they will compete just as aggressively and have no doubts about the performance."
The Falcons will begin the meet on vault, before rotating to a bye, uneven bars, balance beam, another bye, floor exercise and one final bye. This is a favorable rotation, as it mirrors the event order of a home meet. The Falcons are also familiar with bye rotations, as they competed in a six-team meet hosted by N.C. State in mid-February.
At last year's MAC Championships, Bowling Green scored 193.150 to finish in a tie for fifth with Eastern Michigan. The Falcons were hampered by a sub-par uneven bars rotation, as only one gymnast scored above 9.6. Jamilah Ali was the top performer, notching a 48.825 all-around score and becoming the third BGSU gymnast to win MAC Freshman of the Year.
The Falcons are enjoying one of their most successful seasons in the last decade, improving their regional qualifying score to 194.035 and scoring above 195 for the first time since 2005. In three of the last four meets, the team has scored at or above 194.500.
Bowling Green's last MAC team championship came in 1985, while Dawn Christman is the most recent individual champion, winning the floor exercise in 2010.
This year's meet is scheduled to begin Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m. inside University Arena on the campus of Western Michigan University.
