The BG gymnastics team won their last regular meet of the season, but that was not the biggest factor in the Falcons’ looks of pride and joy for the program.
The Falcons beat Western Michigan University with a score of 195.175 to 192.95. Coach Kerrie Beach said at the beginning of the season the team’s goal was to earn a 195.
Megan Harrington led BG with a career-high, all-around score of 39.025.
“We knew that we had to give it our all and put it out there because we had nothing to lose,” Harrington said. “We knew that we had to fight with everything we had to get a good score in order to beat them because we knew going into it that it was going to be close.”
After the first two events the score was tied at 97.425, but the Falcons kept strong on their beam routines. Megan Harrington pulled through and scored highest with a 9.825. As WMU moved to floor exercise, they suffered two falls within the first two routines. The Broncos scored 48 points overall and began to fall behind the Falcons.
As BG prepared for its strongest and final event of the night, the Falcons needed a score of 49.075 to break their season-long goal of 195.
Gina Locingo earned a 9.90, the highest of the evening with a powerful floor exercise.
“Before floor, I told them that this is a really close meet and if you are going to win it, you are going to have to execute everything perfectly and have absolutely no doubt in you landings,” Beach said. “You could see it in their eyes — they were ready and we had a huge finale.”
This meet was the BG gymnastics’ senior night and it was filled with emotion as the team realized they had to let two of their “family members” leave the team.
Sunny Marchand and Monica Eaton completed their undergraduate careers, and the team was sorry to see them go.
“I love the seniors so much,” Harrington said. “They are like sisters to me and they have been incredible influences in the gym to all of us and it is definitely going to be weird without them next year.”
Eaton’s father, Kevin Eaton, died July 30, 2012, while Eaton was at the University training for the season.
“I won’t forget the phone call I got in August when I heard Monica’s dad passed away,” Beach said. “It was really hard on all of us.”
The gymnastics program dedicated its last meet of the regular season to Kevin Eaton as a way to show support of the Eaton family and show how much love and care they have for their teammates.
“It means the world to me,” Eaton said. “I have had so much support from the girls and this team. It’s really outstanding.”
After the meet, Beach met with freshman Caroline Ellingboe and her family to tell them she earned a full-ride from the program. Ellingboe was a walk-on this year, and was only expected to compete on bars. After coming off of wrist surgery she competed regularly on bars, beam and floor routine.
This meet was special to the Falcons for many reasons. Beach and Harrington said reaching 195 points on senior night was special and they look forward to next year.
“Tonight was huge. Senior night is so special and to see them put that 195 up, this will be a very memorable night for our entire program,” Beach said.
