Eagles Open Home Slate with Victory over Northern Illinois

Complete Results

Highlights

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) – The Eastern Michigan University women's gymnastics team emerged victorious in their home opener against Northern Illinois University, Jan. 30. Although the meet was close throughout, the Green and White pulled away with their highest floor event total of the season.

"I'm happy with the meet and it's another solid score for us," remarked Head Coach Jay Santos. "But, I feel like we started out a little tight on vault and the energy was down, so we spent the next couple rotations getting back to ourselves. Bars and beam did a great job of turning the energy around for us. I'm really please with how we finished on floor. I think that is the best we have looked on that event so far this season."

"We got another strong performance from Kimberly tonight, which has been great to see her step up as out lone senior," explained Santos. "Kendall, Catie, and Lacey were also very strong tonight as we took home four of five event titles."

Beginning on vault as the home team, senior Kimberly Ebeyer (Greendwood, Ind. – Whiteland Community) got the Eagles off to a solid start with a 9.675. The Green and White stayed consistent throughout the event, but could not break the 9.8 plateau. Sophomores Rachel Slocum (Holly Springs, N.C. – Holly Springs) and Kendall Valentin (Holmdel, N.J. – Holmdel) paced the team, notching scores of 9.725 and 9.75, respectively. After one event, EMU clung to a 48.450-48.350 lead.

Moving to bars, the Eagles had a solid rotation, posting five scores above 9.7. Junior Sydney McEachern (Winnipeg, Manitoba – Kelvin) opened the event with a 9.725, after which fellow junior Lacey Rubin (Plainview, N.Y. – Plainview Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy) notched a solid 9.825. The sophomore duo of Catie Conrad (Brighton, Mich. – Brighton) and Valentin finished the event on a strong notes with scores above 9.8. With the meet halfway done, Eastern still held a slim lead, 97.350-96.825.

Heading to their strongest event of the season, the Green and White managed to hit all six routines once again. Highlighting the rotation was Rubin, who matched her bars score with another 9.825. Valentin and Conrad also had solid sets with scores of 9.75 and 9.725, respectively. Freshman Megan Hultgren (Rockford, Ill. – Sacred Heart Classical Center) continued her strong start to the year with another hit routine. With one event left, the Eagles were ahead 146.025-145.300.

As Northern Illinois was still within striking distance, EMU needed to close out the meet with a strong floor rotation, which has given the team some trouble in past meets. However, the Eagles came out and notched their highest floor team score of the season. Ebeyer and Slocum both earned scores of 9.85, of which Ebeyer's was a career high. Additionally, McEachern scored a 9.775, and the team finished with an event total of 48.750. After all the scores were tallied, EMU stood atop the podium, 194.775-193.950.

The Eagles continue their season at home, Friday, Feb. 5, with a meet against Central Michigan. Action from the Convocation Center is slated to begin at 6:30 p.m.

Eagles Results (*denotes career high)

Vault 48.450
Kendall Valentin 9.750
Rachel Slocum 9.725
Catie Conrad 9.675
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.675
Sydney McEachern 9.625
Julia Schwartz 9.625

Bars 48.900
Catie Conrad 9.85
Lacey Rubin 9.825
Kendall Valentin 9.80
Sydney McEachern 9.725
Natalie Gervais 9.70
Kirsten Gendron 9.05

Beam 48.675
Lacey Rubin 9.825
Kendall Valentin 9.75
Catie Conrad 9.725
Megan Hultgren 9.70
Natalie Gervais 9.675
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.625

Floor 48.750
Rachel Slocum 9.85
Kimberly Ebeyer 9.85*
Sydney McEachern 9.775
Kendall Valentin 9.575
Megan Marino 9.70
Kirsten Gendron 9.150

All-Around
Kendall Valentin 38.875

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Catie Conrad

Kimberly Ebeyer

Kirsten Gendron

Natalie Gervais

Megan Hultgren

Megan Marino

Sydney McEachern

Lacey Rubin

Jules Schwartz

Rachel Slocum

Kendall Valentin

Eastern Michigan Athletics