Gymnastics Puts Home Record on the Line Against the Flames

Eagles Look to Keep Streak Alive With Illinois-Chicago Dual: After earning its sixth-straight victory Saturday, Feb. 7, in a Mid-American Conference win over the Golden Flashes of Kent State University, the Eastern Michigan University gymnastics team looks to keep its streak alive and defeat the University of Illinois-Chicago for the second time this season Sunday, Feb. 15. The dual between the Eagles and the Flames will begin at 1 p.m. and can be watched live on Eagle All-Access.

EMU Uses Final Rotation to Secure Victory over KSU: The Eagles continued to put together stellar performances on the floor using a 48.950 in their final event of the night to secure the 194.700-193.800 comeback victory over Kent State Saturday, Feb. 7. The Green and White outscored the Golden Flashes by 0.65 in the final event and were once again led by redshirt-senior Chantelle Loehner, who captured her third floor title of the season with a score of 9.825. Following Loehner, Sydney McEachern and Anna Willette put together career-high performances with identical 9.800s for EMU, while Rachel Slocum tallied a career-high 9.775 in the event.

Loehner Shines on the Floor for the Green and White: Redshirt-senior Chantelle Loehner has had an impressive senior season for the Eagles competing on the floor in all but one meet for the Green and White. Loehner has earned three floor titles this season, while averaging a 9.850 in the event. Most recently, Loehner's first-place finish against Kent State allowed the Eagles to leapfrog the visiting Golden Flashes and secure its sixth-straight victory of the season and second Mid-American Conference win.

Six Eagles Put Together Career Days in EMU Victory: Six Eastern Michigan gymnasts put together career performances in its comeback victory over Kent State Saturday, Feb. 7. In the first rotation of the evening, freshman vault specialist Julia Schwartz earned a 9.800 on the apparatus, which topped her previous career-best 9.725, good for a second-place finish. Moving to the bars, Nikki Paterson led the Green and White on the bars with a career-best 9.775 in the event and a second-place finish. The senior was just barely edged out by Kent State's Chelsea Dooger, who captured the crown with a score of 9.800.
The Eagles saw their third career day on the beam when freshman Kendall Valentin scored a 9.750 with her impressive routine to earn a second-place finish in the event, while three final career routines were seen in the EMU lineup on the floor. Freshman Sydney McEachern and senior Anna Willette each tied previous career highs with scores of 9.800, while freshman Rachel Slocum nabbed a 9.775 for the third time this season, matching her career high in the event.

Facing the Flames Again: Squaring off against Illinois-Chicago for the second time in three weeks, the Eagles will look for a similar outcome and its seventh-straight win of the season. After extinguishing the Flames at the Michigan/Illinois Challenge, 194.650-189.925, the Eagles hope to improve upon what first year Head Coach Jay Santos thought was an off performance. The Green and White saw one victory with senior Anna Willette earning the all-around title and a third-place finish in the vault with a score of 9.800, while Kendall Valentin grabbed a second-place finish on the bars posting a career-best 9.850. EMU capped off the meet with a second-place finish on the beam from Natalie Gervais and a runner-up finish from Chantelle Loehner on the floor.
The Flames are led by sophomore Nicole Szabo and senior Gabrielle May who tied for fifth on the bars with matching 9.800 at the Michigan/Illinois Challenge, while May capped off the event with a team-best 9.750 on the vault. May will most likely compete as an all-around challenger for UIC in the Sunday dual, while EMU could also see Citlali Cuevas in all four events as she averages a 37.650 in all-around competition.

Looking Ahead at Western Michigan: For the first time in the month of February, the Eagles will hit the road to take on the Broncos of Western Michigan University Friday, Feb. 20 at 7 p.m. So far this season, the Broncos are 1-1 in conference action, having fallen to Kent State, 193.325-194.900, at the end of January and are looking to get back on track when they take on Ball State University, Feb. 13 before hosting the Eagles Friday, Feb. 20.

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Players Mentioned

Natalie Gervais

Chantelle Loehner

Sydney McEachern

Nikki Paterson

Jules Schwartz

Rachel Slocum

Kendall Valentin

Anna Willette

Eastern Michigan Athletics