Eagles Begin MAC Competition in Home Opener

Gymnastics vs. No. 3 Central Michigan (1-0, 0-0 MAC)
Date	Saturday, Jan. 13 \| 6 p.m. ET
Location	Ypsilanti, Mich. \| Convocation Center
Meet Notes	PDF Notes
Twitter	@EMU Gym
Results	L ive Results
Live Stream	EMU Eagle All-Access

YPSILANTI, Mich. (EMUEagles.com) -- The Eastern Michigan University gymnastics team welcomes MAC-rival Central Michigan University to the Convocation Center for the first home meet of 2018 Saturday, Jan. 13. This is the second straight year EMU has opened up conference competition against CMU, as they topped the Chippewas last season, 195.925-194.650, in Mount Pleasant, Jan. 20.

Following the Meet: Fans can follow the meet through both live stats and a video stream. Links for both can be found on the EMU gymnastics schedule page located on EMUEagles.com.

Full Circle: The matchup between the Eagles and Chippewas will see EMU Head Coach Katie Minasola take on her former head coach, Jerry Reighard, whom Minasola performed under at Central in 2003. That season, Minasola put together some of the best performances in CMU history on bars, some of which still stand today. In fact, Minasola currently holds the top-four scores for bars in Central's record book, including two perfect scores of 10.000, which make her just one-of-five CMU gymnasts who have earned a perfect score. Additionally, the 9.975 she marked in that year's MAC Championship still stands as a conference tournament record, as does the overall team score they earned in the event, 49.550.

EMU vs. CMU In Recent History: CMU has dominated the series between the two programs over the past 10 years, as Eastern currently holds a 5-14 record against the Chippewas in the regular season since 2008. However, although Central holds the edge in the overall record, Eastern has been the team to beat in recent history, having won the last four regular season meetings.

Last Time Out: The Eastern Michigan University gymnastics team fell in its season opener, 194.275-192.900, against Penn State University Saturday, Jan. 6, in State College, Pa.
   The Eagles saw two gymnasts take home event titles as redshirt senior Lacey Rubin notched a 9.850 to win bars and sophomore Emili Dobronics posted a 9.800 on floor, which tied a career-high and earned her a share of the title. Dobronics was also one-of-two student-athletes to compete in the all-around, as her and junior Megan Hultgren competed in each event, earning scores of 38.000 and 38.600, respectively.
   Additionally, three student-athletes saw their EMU debuts, as freshmen Megan Benzie, Cortney Bezold, and Jada Rondeau all competed.

Rubin Earns MAC Specialist of the Week: Redshirt senior gymnast Lacey Rubin earned Mid-American Conference Specialist of the Week honors for the period ending Jan. 7, the league office announced Tuesday, Jan. 9. This award was earned for her outstanding performance in the first regular-season meet of the year against Penn State Saturday, Jan. 6, in State College, Pa.
   Rubin started her day on bars, where she notched a 9.850 to take her first event title of the year. Additionally, the Plainview, N.Y.-native ended her day by posting a 9.775 on beam, which was good for the second-best event score and a team-high on the apparatus. This is the third MAC Specialist award of her career, after earning one in each of the last two seasons.

Looking Ahead: Eastern continues conference action Friday, Jan. 19, when they head to Bowling Green, Ohio to take on the Falcons. BGSU had a strong performance in its first meet of the year, defeating Michigan State, 194.000-193.350, with the team score serving as the program's third-best in a season opener.

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Megan Benzie

Cortney Bezold

Emili Dobronics

Megan Hultgren

Jada Rondeau

Lacey Rubin

Eastern Michigan Athletics