By Brice Biggin
Head coach
Going to the University of Michigan’s Crisler Arena this past weekend got us into the setting of a big arena, which is something we are going to have to learn how to deal with when we go to the NCAA regionals. All of those regional sites are big facilities.
We have no idea where we will go for the regionals. I could be any one of six spots.
I think we haven’t really had a bad meet all year until this trip to Michigan. That’s something of a positive, in that you never want to perform poorly, but this may give us a little wake-up call. We need to take what happened in Michigan and realize that we are at the end of the season and we need to focus as a team on what is important and how we need focus as a team to be successful. We are going to use that as a positive leading into Thursday’s meet with Bowling Green when the girls know what is at stake.
We have a chance to win a regular-season Mid-American Conference championship on senior night on our own floor. We have to defend our home. We don’t want anyone to come in here and spoil this opportunity. But we have to do a better job as an entire team.
What has made this team successful is having everyone everyone step up week in and week out. I told the girls that I didn’t think some of them could look at each other and honestly say they gave 100 percent. That has to be refocused.
It’s a short week, so we are doing some things differently. We gave the team Saturday off. Then we came in Sunday and practiced. We’ll practice Monday and Tuesday and then Wednesday we will be off. It’s not a great week, but we will still get three solid days of practice. Yesterday was a good workout and we need to focus on being consistent these next few days so that we will be consistent again on Thursday.
We’ll see right from the first event on Thursday if we have refocused. Vault is an event we did well on in Michigan, but it is still an event where we are trying to figure out one or two kids to add in to solidify that event. I think if we have one or two kids step up, that will show us we are ready to compete.
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| Senior Marie Case will compete for the last time at the M.A.C. Center on Thursday vs. Bowling Green |
Freshman Jordan Hardison is a young lady who struggled early in the season. She had a bad vault in the Blue & Gold meet and suffered an injury. But she has really stepped up her game and has come back with a vengeance. She has competed great for us on beam and floor. We pushed her very hard on vault yesterday and talked to her about how this is an event she is capable of doing. She needs to be able to concentrate on it like any other event and do what she is capable of to help the team out. To her credit she has worked her tail off.
Another freshman, Skyelee Lamano, is a girl who has been in and out and is working hard to come back from an injury she suffered last year on vault. That has been a bit of a mental comeback trail for her and she is doing better and better. We need her to continue to step forward and give us a good option as well.
Kelsey Lawless is a junior who has competed for us the last few weeks, and while she hasn’t been as consistent as we would like her to in the spot, she has been able to come through.
Right now we need two of those three to step up and give us two good vaults. If they do it is really going to help this team out.
Again, this is our senior meet. The last time Nikki Moore, Ashley Transue and Marie Case will perform at the M.A.C. Center. They have had good careers here, and obviously Marie Case has been a cornerstone for the last three and a half years. Losing her is going to be tough.
Marie is starting to understand and get that feeling that she is getting close to the end of her college career. As focused as she is, she needs to have a great last meet. For us to be as successful as we need to be, she has to be the leader of the team. She can’t let emotions run into having any type of slip. I don’t expect her to slip. We are going to ride her as long as we can, and we will hope these seniors are sent out the right way in this last meet and of course in the MAC championship.
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