Gymnastics Concludes Regular Season at Eastern Michigan

BOWLING GREEN (3-13, 2-3 MAC) at EASTERN MICHIGAN (10-4, 4-1 MAC)
Saturday, March 11, 2017 | 7:00 p.m. ET | Ypsilanti, Mich. | Convocation Center (9,512)

Game Notes: BGSU
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Road To Nationals

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MARCH 18, 2017 -- STROH CENTER
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COACH'S THOUGHTS
"With our final regular season meet before the MAC Championships, our focus will be a solid meet on all four events at EMU. The team needs to come together and be mentally and physically on point from the very start of the meet. We will start on bars, and I would like to see aggressive and focused competition from our uneven bars team. This meet will set us up for the MAC Championships, and it will be a good opportunity to gain confidence..."

-- BGSU Gymnastics Head Coach Kerrie Turner

PREPARING FOR THE POSTSEASON
The Bowling Green State University gymnastics team concludes the 2017 regular season with a trip to Ypsilanti, Mich. to face Mid-American Conference rival Eastern Michigan. BGSU will use the meet as one final road opportunity to improve their team and individual Regional Qualifying Scores (RQS) and to prepare for the MAC Championships, which occur on Saturday, March 18.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES
Bowling Green owns a 26-22 advantage in 48 meetings against EMU. The Eagles were BGSU's first-ever opponent in a home meet; that resulted in an 87.00-69.65 victory in 1975. More recently, Falcons are 7-6 against the Eagles during the Kerrie Turner era. Eastern Michigan won the most recent meeting in Ypsilanti, 195.250-192.425. However, BGSU won a 194.025-193.900 decision at Eastern Michigan in 2013.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Eastern Michigan, under the first-year leadership of Sarah Brown, is the dominant team of 2017 in the Mid-American Conference. They lead the MAC with an RQS of 195.805. That ranks 25th nationally and should lead to a spot in the NCAA Regionals.

EMU most recently finished second in a quad meet at #22 West Virginia that included #18 George Washington and Pittsburgh. Their score (196.225) was a season-best. They have also recently defeated Towson with a 196.000 and Ball State with a 195.950. The Eagles are 10-4 overall and 4-1 against MAC opponents.

The Eagles' Kendall Valentin, a three-time MAC Specialist of the Week, leads the MAC with a 9.920 RQS on the uneven bars and is third (9.860) on the balance beam. Lacey Rubin has also won a MAC Specialist of the Week award and is tied for sixth in the MAC on bars (9.850) and beam (9.820). Catie Conrad has captured a pair of MAC Gymnast of the Week honors, and her 9.870 bars' RQS is third in the league.

LAST TIME OUT
Bowling Green fell in a pair of dual meets last weekend against Kent State and Michigan State. The Falcons' scored a 194.450 against the Golden Flashes on Senior Day, then posted a 193.600 at MSU. The team earned a season-best floor exercise mark of 48.975 versus KSU, then fought the Spartans with their best event score of 2017 (49.075, vault).

Freshman Jovannah East finished first three times during the pair of duals, including twice on vault. On Sunday, she was part of a three-way tie for first on the balance beam with teammates Laura Mitchell and India McPeak at 9.850. Mitchell also finished first on beam (9.825) against KSU. Lauren DeMeno made her 2017 beam debut against MSU and posted a career-best 9.775, while Katie Morsefield's 9.800 on vault against KSU was also a personal-record. On Friday, Kayla Rose tied a career-best with a 9.875 during the floor exercise.

THE POST-SEASON APPROACHES
Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) averages were released for the first time for the week of Feb. 20. Those scores are used to determine the teams and individuals that advance to the six NCAA regional meets. The top 36 teams by RQS qualify for the reginoals. Among individuals who are not on qualifying teams, the top four all-around gymnasts and the top two athletes from all four events are selected from each of the six regions.

RQS is determined by taking the top six scores (at least three of which must be from "away" meets). The best score is eliminated, and the next five scores are averaged.

CHASE FOR A REPEAT
Bowling Green is chasing the team's first back-to-back trips to the NCAA postseason since qualifying for four years in a row from 1984-1987. The Falcons' RQS is 194.270. That ranks 50th nationally and is 0.750 behind Penn State, who currently sits in 36th place at 195.020. In order for BGSU to finish the season with an RQS of 195.020 or better, they need to score at least 196.025 in each of their final two meets.

OTHER REGIONAL HOPES
Should BGSU not make the NCAA Regionals as a team, several Falcons have placed themselves in contention for individual berths. Freshman Jovannah East could qualify in three events. She is currently the top Central Region individual qualifer on vault (9.865) and balance beam (9.835). If she competes in the floor exercise in the final two meets, she will also be RQS eligible for that event. Her current average (9.825) would place her in contention for one of those spots.

Senior Lauren Feely (9.850) is second behind East among individual qualifers for vault (9.850, which would send her to Regionals. In addition, India McPeak (9.810) and Taylor Worthington (9.805) are competing for a spot on balance beam, while Kayla Rose (9.825) is doing the same for floor exercise.

WE'RE NUMBER ONE!
Through nine weeks of the 2017 season, the Falcons enjoy the best team score in the Mid-American Conference on the vault (48.990). Jovannah East owns the MAC's best individual vault RQS (9.865). East has a 9.850+ on vault for eight straight meets.

ON THE NATIONAL SCENE
BGSU's vault lineup has moved into the nation's top 25. The Falcons' vault RQS (48.990) ranks 23rd and is just 0.025 behind Ohio State for 20th. Bowling Green is ranked 30th nationally on the balance beam (48.840) and is just 0.035 behind #25 Nebraska and North Carolina. Freshman Jovannah East is tied for 24th on the vault (9.865), while senior Lauren Feely is tied for 37th nationally at 9.850.

SENIOR STYLE
Lauren Feely aided BGSU's efforts to defeat Ball State by winning the vault with a 9.900, but that was not her best leap of the season. She set a new personal record of 9.925 against Western Michigan and tied the second-best mark in BGSU history. Feely, the 2016 MAC all-around champion, competed in all four events for the first time in 2017 at CMU. She then posted a season-best all-around mark of 39.050 on senior night against Kent State.

Rachel Reis has been among the Falcons' best on the uneven bars, with seven of the team's top 16 scores on the apparatus. The best of those was a team 2017 best and a personal record 9.875 at CMU. That routine helped Reis win the MAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Week award on March 1. Reis also nailed a 9.800 at Utah State and has scored 9.750 four times in 2017.

Victoria Heath has two event wins this season. She won a vault title with a 9.875 at Utah State, which set a personal record on the apparatus. She then captured the floor exercise with a 9.800 against Illinois State. Heath has four other routines of 9.800 or better in 2017. She did so three times last weekend, including 9.825 twice for her two best floor scores of the season.

GREAT FIRST IMPRESSION
Jovannah East is only a freshman, but she is competing like a seasoned veteran. Since returning from a one-week hiatus against Illinois State, she has scored 9.800 or better in all 20 consecutive events, including five 9.875s and a 9.800 in her first collegiate floor routine. East has won individual events 11 times in 2017 and at least one in eight of the team's 11 meets. She owns the MAC's best RQS (9.865) on the vault and is fifth (9.835) on the balance beam. She was also named MAC Specialist of the Week on Feb. 7.

THE MCPEAK OF SUCCESS
Junior India McPeak, who tranferred to BGSU from the University of Michigan, had her best meet as a Falcon at Northern Illinois. McPeak set new personal records on beam (9.850) and floor (9.800), and her beam routine resulted in a tie for first place. She pushed her floor exercise PR to 9.825 against New Hampshire. McPeak began her Falcon career with a 9.800 and a third place finish on the balance beam at Penn State. Most recently, McPeak tied her PR on beam (9.850) and finished in a first-place tie at Michigan State. Her balance beam RQS (9.810) is currently eighth in the MAC.

STEPPING IN, STEPPING UP
Freshman Randi Morris assisted in the Falcons' victory over Ball State last week with a 9.800 and a tie for second place in the floor exercise. She added a fifth-place tie on the vault (9.775) and scored 9.750 in her first official balance beam effort. Morris had a pair of 9.800s in the previous meet against New Hampshire.

"WORTH" EVERY PENNY
Taylor Worthington continues to improve as her freshman season with the Falcons progresses. On Feb. 11 versus New Hampshire, she had an outstanding beam routine that scored a personal-best 9.875 and tied for first place. In her first home meet at BGSU, she finished second on the balance beam with a personal-best 9.825. In her next home meet against WMU, she won on the beam with a 9.850. At CMU, she was the Falcons' top beam scorer (9.825), and she now owns a 9.805 RQS on beam. That ranks ninth in the MAC. Last weekend, Worthington set a new vault PR with a 9.775 against Kent State, then matched that score at Kent State.

RANKED IN THE MAC
Bowling Green has several gymnasts ranked in the Mid-American Conference top ten lists after nine weeks of action. On the balance beam, Jovannah East is fifth in the MAC with a 9.835 RQS, while India McPeak is eighth at 9.810. Taylor Worthington is ninth (9.805). The team's 48.840 is second in the league. On vault, East leads the MAC at 9.865, while Lauren Feely is just behind in second place (9.850). The team's RQS (48.990) is tops in the MAC. In addition, Kayla Rose has moved into a ninth-place tie for the floor exercise by improving her RQS to 9.825.

ALL-TIME HOME RECORD
The Falcons are 136-71-1 all-time when hosting meets in Bowling Green and 105-56-1 when those meets are duals. During the Kerrie Turner era, those records are 21-26 (overall) and 18-21 (duals).

ELITE SCHEDULING
The Falcons' strength of schedule is ranked 29th nationally headed into the 2017 season. The rating is tabulated by reverse-assigning points to each team based on their final 2016 ranking. BGSU's opponents combined to provide 646 points for an average of 49.69. Ten of Bowling Green's 16 opponents are ranked in the 2017 preseason coaches' poll; that includes seven of the team's ten non-conference opponents.

ROUTINE GREATNESS
Bowling Green produced three of the school's top ten all-time team scores in 2016. In a meet against Ohio State and West Virginia, the Falcons posted a 195.725, a mark only eclipsed five times in school history. On Senior Night against Northern Illinois, BGSU shattered the school record with a 196.500. Only once previously in team history had the Falcons broken the 196 barrier. Finally, at the MAC Championships, BGSU scored a 195.625. It was the best team score ever for the Falcons at the MACs and was the tenth-best in team history.

MAKING HISTORY NOW
The Falcons qualified as a team for the NCAA Regionals in 2016. It was the team's first trip to the NCAA postseason in 25 years and the seventh in school history. Bowling Green finished the event with an overall mark of 193.850, the best-ever team score at the event for BGSU. The Falcons also have regional appearances in 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1991.

WE'VE GOT THAT CHAMPIONSHIP FEEL-Y
Senior Lauren Feely will go down as one of the best gymnasts in BGSU history. She owns a place on BGSU's all-time top-ten individual score lists for vault, floor exercise and all-around competition. She is also just the fifth athlete in team history to win multiple MAC championships and the first since Marny Oestreng (1999-2002). She took the vault championship in 2015, then last season, won the all-around championship with a 39.300. Feely is a two-time Academic All-MAC honoree and was a CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2016.

PUTTING THE STUDENT IN STUDENT-ATHLETE
Falcon gymnasts value excellence in the classroom just as much as they do in the gym. Last July, BGSU was recognized as having the 19th-best team GPA nationally (3.5312) and nine Falcons were named NACGC/W Scholastic All-America. Five members of the team were recognized as Academic All-MAC following the 2016 season, and Lauren Feely earned CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. In 2016's fall semester, the team GPA rose to 3.677 and nine Falcons carried 4.0 averages.

NEW FACES, HIGHER STAKES
The 2017 Falcons feature an exciting class of newcomers that could make an immediate impact for BGSU and push the returning athletes to new heights. The roster will include six freshmen (Lexi Augustine, Jovannah East, Alex Johnston, Randi Morris, Shannon St. Jean and Taylor Worthington), as well as India McPeak, who is a junior transfer from the University of Michigan.

PRESEASON POLL
The Falcons were picked to finish tied for third in the Mid-American Conference in 2017 as voted on by the league's head coaches. Kent State was selected to win the conference, while Central Michigan was chosen to place second. Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green followed, with Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Ball State rounding out the conference. In a show of the parity within the conference, each team received one first-place vote in the poll.

GYMNASTICS ADDITIONS
BGSU and head coach Kerrie Turner announced the signings of four student-athletes for the 2018 season in November. The additions are Whitney Cronin (High Point, N.C.), Alexandra Fochler (Cranberry Township, Pa.), Nacaida Kearns (Waterford, Ohio) and Samantha Marion (Franklin Lakes, N.J.).

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Fans can follow the BGSU Gymnastics team on Twitter @FalconGymn for in-meet updates, news and notes. Links to live stats, video (as available) and away-meet live stats can be found at BGSUFalcons.com. For home meets, fans can follow live stats by downloading the app, "Beyond The Scores," on your smartphone or tablet. Create an account, add "Bowling Green State Gym Team" to your favorites, select the meet, and enjoy an interactive scoring system.

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