The BG gymnastics team, for the first time this season, returned home to Anderson Arena this past Saturday to face off against Eastern Michigan, where the team had a decisive win beating the Eagles 194.600 to 192.525, which was its best meet this season.
With this win, not only are the Falcons undefeated in Mid-American play, but they have reached back-to-back MAC wins for the first time since the 2009-2010 season when the team beat Ball State and Eastern Michigan in consecutive weeks.
“It was so exciting, I’ve been telling our athletes you can’t focus on the win; you need to focus on the routines because a win is truly just a result of doing a great job in the meets,” said coach Kerrie Turner. “I just think it shows the effort the team’s putting in and the fact that our program is really growing and getting better.”
The Falcons not only won but seemed in control in every aspect of the meet with everyone contributing to the cause and coming out with confidence as they beat the Eagles by 2.075 points, their second two point victory this season.
“Well, we really talked about the fact that we are home and we’re on our own equipment and that practice and meet should be reflections of each other. It doesn’t matter if you are at a competition or practice; the effort should be the same. I think that’s what they ran with today and you could see them building and never giving up, even if we had a mistake they never got off their stride and I think that was the reason for our success,” said Turner.
The Falcons had a few struggles but overcame them very quickly as personal bests were achieved in Saturday’s matchup, starting with Alyssa Nocella, who made BG history by getting a career high in the all-around competition. Nocella scored a 39.150 which only two other BG gymnasts have done, scoring a 39.000 or better. One of them, Marny Oestreng, was inducted into the BG hall of fame this past summer along with Melissa Popovich.
“We really just focused on staying in the moment one thing at a time and just focusing on ourselves and not worrying about the other team in the room; we just did what we knew what we had to do and came out here and got it done,” said Nocella.
It was not just Nocella who came in ready to go, Lauren Feely had her best all-around score in college posting a 38.750. Along with Rachel Reis placing first in the uneven bars with a 9.750 score and Megan Harrington posting a 9.8 or better in both the balance beam and the floor exercise.
The performance was so impressive that the Falcons posted their second best score since 2005. It was in 2005 that the Falcons had a score of 194.075 in a losing effort against Kent State.
BG will improve to 2-2 (2-0) of the season, while Eastern Michigan continues to search for a win 0-4 (0-2) of the year. The Falcons’ next meet is on the road against Ball State Jan. 31 at 7 p.m. in Muncie, Ind.
