Kent State gymnastics extended its winning streak to nine games with a close win over Central Michigan Sunday afternoon. The Flashes beat the Chippewas 195.175 to 195.075.

The Flashes’ freshman gymnast Rachel DeCavitch was second in all-around scoring with two top-3 finishes. She placed first for the balance beam in front of four Central Michigan gymnasts. Her score of 9.875 was 0.25 points higher than the two second place gymnasts, Sierra DeMarinis and Morgan Tong. 

“She has stayed so steady and so confident. It’s rare to see freshmen really come out of the gate the way she has, but it certainly is something that we knew she’s talented. It’s just really pleasant for a coach to watch a freshman really step up the way she has,” coach Brice Biggin said. 

DeCavitch finished in third in the uneven parallel bars event with a score of 9.850. The Flashes struggled more in this event with three Kent State gymnasts placing in seventh, eighth and ninth. Senior Jade Brown had the second-highest scoring for Kent State in the uneven parallel bars with a tie for fourth place. She scored 9.825 for the event. 

“As a senior, once again, she has done just a tremendous job. She had a little bit of a rough meet last meet, but that’s kind of what we challenged her a little bit and said, ‘listen, you’re better than what you did last week, things happen, but we got to put it behind us and we need to step forward to the next meet.’ And obviously she put the things behind her from last week and did a phenomenal job this week,” Biggin said. 

Brown had a top 3 finish in the floor exercise as well, tying with fellow Kent State gymnast junior Abby Fletcher and freshman Karlie Franz. The three gymnasts had a score of 9.825 behind CMU gymnasts Taylor Pitchell (first) and Denelle Pedrick (second). 

“I feel like I really stepped up from last week in both competitions that I competed at; I knew that my team had to count on me and my scores, but I just went out and did what I could and did nothing extra and focused on the details,” Brown said. 

Fletcher had three top 5 finishes in the vault event, balance beam and floor exercise. Her score of 9.775 for the balance beam gave her the second highest finish for the Flashes in that event. In the vault event she tied for fifth with Olivia Amodei and CMU’s Sierra DeMarinis with a score of 9.750.

Kent State will look to continue its winning streak at 1 p.m. next Sunday, Feb. 23 at Ball State. The Cardinals are 8-4 and 2-1 in Mid-American Conference play. 

Amanda Levine is a sports editor. Contact her at [email protected].