With two weekend wins the Ball State gymnastics team (192.150) fell to both Mid-American Conference rival No. 24 Central Michigan (195.850) and the Big Ten's (#29) Michigan State Spartans (195.750) in East Lansing Saturday.-á
Standouts for the Cardinals included sophomore Jessica Surridge and senior Kim Cromer, who finished fourth and fifth respectively on the vault with scores of 9.80 and 9.75. Junior Cassie Anthony tied for fifth on the uneven bars with a 9.825. Junior Quiana Williams scored a 38.325, which was good enough for fifth in the all-around.
Central Michigan sophomore Kara Reighard said her team wanted to send a message going into Saturday's gymnastics meet, and that's exactly what they did.
Central avenged their only loss of the season by defeating Michigan State, but more importantly proved they were the dominant force in the MAC. Saturday was the second time this season the Chippewas have defeated the Cardinals. CMU defeated Ball State Jan. 24 in Worthen Arena (193.200-192.975).-á
Saturday's meet was the Cardinal's sixth in a row where they failed to pick up a win.-áThe lost drops the team's record to 8-14 overall and 2-3 in MAC play. The team has been affected by injuries most of the season, and has struggled to find a sense of rhythm.
"We need to be a little more consistent," Cromer said. "We'd like to have a meet where we don't have to count any falls."
The Cardinals don't blame their recent losses on the injuries the team suffered earlier in the year, and Cromer is quick to add that the team is working hard.
"We're still starting to put a few new things in," she said. "We're trying to upgrade our difficulties before we get to MAC, so there's still a few things that are a little shaky, but overall we're performing good."
Coming into the season Central Michigan was one of the teams expected to challenge Ball State for the MAC Championship, but regular season play has shown Central to be in the driver's seat. Cromer points out that the situation is similar to last season.
"Last year we didn't have the best overall season, but then at MAC we ended up winning," Cromer said. "Anything can happen; it depends who's on that day, and who's not."
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