Three MAC schools ranked in top 25 in Road To Nationals Rankings for women’s gymnastics

Meet season is underway in the world of women’s gymnastics and the Mid-American Conference once again looks poised to make some noise after placing three programs in the Top 25 in the opening Road to Nationals Rankings for 2018.

Central Michigan tops the list at third in the country after defeating Illinois State at home to start the season. The Chippewas posted a meet score of 196.375 in the effort, with Macey Hilliker (career-best 9.925 on the floor exercise, good for second in the country), Denelle Pedrick (9.975, good for eighth in the country) and Katy Clements (9.875, good for 12th in the country) highlighting the night.

Ball State stands outside the Top 10 in 15th place after posting a 194.475 in a triple team meet in Lexington, Kentucky, featuring George Washington, Kentucky, and Southeast Missouri, where the Cards finished in second to the Wildcats.

Bowling Green also started the season on the road in a meet against Michigan State and walked out with a narrow victory over the Spartans by a final of 194.000-193.350, placing them 23rd in the country.

Eastern Michigan, which finished ranked 23rd in the country in the year-end rankings in 2017, opened this season with a loss at Penn State by a final of 192.900-194.275. They’re currently 31st in the country with a chance to hit the Top 25 against CMU in each program’s respective conference opener.

Bowling Green and CMU are on top of the MAC leaderboard both at 1-0, while Ball State is ranked third at 2-1. EMU, sitting at sixth at 0-1, and NIU, sitting at seventh at 0-2 roud out the rankings.

Kent State and Western Michigan, which have yet to start the season, will start their campaigns on Jan. 14 against Centenary College and Illinois-Chicago, respectively.