Women's Gymnastics | March 22, 2019

DEKALB, Ill. – The Western Michigan gymnastics team travels to Northern Illinois University for the 2019 Mid-American Conference Championships on Saturday, beginning at 3 p.m. at the NIU Convocation Center.
 
The meet will be broadcast live at ESPN3.com. The Huskies were voted to win the MAC Championship meet in the preseason coaches' poll.
 
WMU looks to improve on its fifth place finish from last season.
 
"They're primed to put all four events together this week," said head coach Penny Jernigan. "It's an exciting meet. The parity in the conference is amazing and anyone can win on any given day. All the teams are within reach of each other, it's going to be a matter of who goes out there and gets it done."
 
The Broncos begin the meet with the beam then have a bye before proceeding to the floor. After another bye WMU heads to the vault and then a bye before wrapping up the meet on the bars.
 
"I would definitely say our strongest event is the bars," added Jernigan. "They've been extremely consistent, they have a high level difficulty and their execution has been very good."
 
WMU has the reigning bars champion in Stacie Harrison, who won the event with a 9.925 last year. Harrison also earned MAC All-Tournament Team honors. The Broncos are also the top-rated team in the MAC in the bars with a team RQS of 48.900, .040 ahead of Kent State. 
 
Western Michigan also has a strong presence in the all-around with senior Rachel Underwood and sophomore Morgan Spence. Both were recently named Second Team All-MAC. Underwood has had past success at the MAC Championship, earning All-Tournament Team honors in 2017. 
 
After the weekend, the Broncos have a week off to prepare for the NCAA Regionals on April 4-6.