Women's Gymnastics | January 06, 2017

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – A year after setting numerous records, including a program-best seven athletes to the NCAA regionals, the Western Michigan gymnastics team begins its 2017 season on Sunday in a quad meet at Northern Illinois. The Broncos will see the Huskies, the University of Iowa and Lindenwood in DeKalb, Ill.
 
This year, the Broncos are hoping to break even more records and achieve a first of finishing inside the top-36 nationally and qualifying for the NCAA regionals as a team. Off the mat, the Broncos want to finish first in the country in terms of GPA, after placing fifth as a team last year. The team is off to a good start in that endeavor after posting a team-GPA of 3.72 this fall.
 
"The effort this team has put into preparing is remarkable," head coach Penny Jernigan said. "They've worked harder than any group I've coached since I've been at WMU. They've also shown an enormous amount of grit by overcoming an unusually high number of illnesses and injuries in the fall semester. I think the positive way they've responded to the adversity says a lot about their values, beliefs and expectations for this season. They've got everything they need to be successful, no matter the circumstances."
 
WMU returns six of its seven athletes (Jessie Peszek, Jessica Juncaj, Rachael Underwood, Audry Merritt, Anna Corbett and Kelsey Hood) who qualified for NCAA regionals at Iowa last season, which was a program record. Of the six returners who qualified for the NCAA regionals, five of them were also on the Academic All-MAC squad. Hood, Juncaj, Merritt, Peszek and Corbett were part of the seven-person squad that made up the team, also joined by two of last season's seniors Jessi Buis and Kayla Weber.
 
Among the other feats the team set in 2016 are 13 team records, including the most academic all-MAC selections with seven and 18 individual records. The Broncos also posted three MAC Female Scholar Athlete of the Week selections, three MAC Distinguished Scholar-Athletes and a CoSIDA Academic All-American.
 
This year's squad includes Corbett and Underwood who will be competing in the all-around in 2017. Seniors Merritt (vault, bars and floor) and Peszek (bars, beam and floor) will bring experience to the lineups on their events. Fellow seniors Brittany Aragon and Lauren Vandenberg are primarily specializing on vault and adding some depth on other events.
 
Hood, a junior is coming back off a broken foot she suffered over the summer, and is expected to contribute on bars right away and add in other events as she is ready. Junior Kira Hoy is looking strong on beam and making great strides on floor also, while Juncaj who was only on bars last year will compete in beam and floor this season. Bar specialist junior Kendall Carlson has shown increased consistency and will vie for a line up position again this year. 
 
Sophomore Rachel Binkley is back on vault, beam and floor. Fellow sophomore Katie Jennings, who led the Broncos off on vault last season has impressed this fall and looks to be in the lineup on floor this season. The third sophomore Amanda Ruble looks to make her debut as a Bronco on beam, floor and vault.
 
Newcomers Taylor Buis and Danielle Bisbikis will also be in the mix. Buis is looking to break into the line ups on vault, bars and beam while Bisbikis is focused on vault and floor.
 
"It's quite possible that we could have all fifteen competing in any one meet," Jernigan said. That's almost double the starters we've had in past years. I think that's a testimony to the commitment level of the entire team."