2023 MAC Gymnastics Championship Preview

Emma Tucker, Sports Reporter, Falcon Media Sports Network

The MAC Gymnastics Championship is just around the corner, and seven teams are preparing to compete on Saturday.

Despite a rocky season, the Falcons have seen a vast improvement during the last few meets of the regular season.

After the final meet of regulation at Eastern Michigan,  Head Coach Kerrie Turner talked about how she’s looking forward to competing this weekend.

“We are looking forward to getting back in the gym and preparing for MAC Championships”, Turner said. “Our team is in peak condition and ready to perform at our highest level next weekend.”

Across the MAC:

  • Watch out for Western Michigan. Bowling Green’s biggest rival over the past few years is 15-5 overall and took the crown as regular-season MAC champion last weekend.
  • Western Michigan had a narrow victory. The Broncos only topped Ball State by .05 of a point. This goes to show that Saturday is truly anyone’s game.
  • Keep your eyes on Ball State and Western Michigan. The Cardinals and Broncos hold a 5-1 record in the conference.
  • Holding third place, the CMU Chippewas are the returning champions from the 2022 season. With a less commanding record than WMU and BSU, Central Michigan still holds a 5-4 overall record for the 2023 season.

Falcons to look out for:

  • Senior Taylor Jensen: She is the overall highest-scoring gymnast for Bowling Green this season.
  • Freshman Megan Bingham: Megan holds BGSU’s highest score on the beam this season (9.9500). The freshman has competed in the bars and the beam for every meet this year.
  • Sophomore Kathryn Weilbacher: Facing Ball State, Kathryn won the all-around and tied the third-highest score in program history with a 39.425.

Looking back at this season:

  • The orange and brown had a solid end to the season. The Falcons set multiple team event season records and tied individual records for program history all within their last three meets.
  • On average, Bowling Green is scoring more points per meet overall than last year.
  • While facing Michigan State and LIU, the Falcons logged a 196.200, their fourth-highest team score in program history. An earlier meet versus the MAC runner-up, Ball State was also their best meet as a program since 2018, where they scored 196.00 points.

It’s shaping up to be an interesting end to the 2023 Gymnastics season and it all starts on Saturday, March 18.

Kent State hosts the event, beginning at 2 pm.

For more information visit the athletics webpage.