The Kent State gymnastics team lost to Mid-American Conference rival Central Michigan at home during its final meet of the regular season by a score of 195.975-196.175.

This afternoon’s meet was part of the team’s senior day to honor the gymnasts who will be graduating. The gymnasts in question were seniors Olivia Amodei, Rachel DeCavitch, Karlie Franz, Taylor Wentland and graduate student Cami Klein.

“I thought once again three events were really good,” coach Brice Biggin said. “But unfortunately we made some mistakes on beam and when you see competition like we are right now with Central Michigan, Western Michigan, Ball State; those are really really good teams. And the margin for error is slim right now that you just can’t have a letdown on any events.”

Franz posted a score of 9.925 on the floor, her sixth-consecutive 9.900 or over in the event. Today was Franz’s first meet in two weeks after missing the Ohio State Tri-Meet after suffering an injury against Eastern Michigan.

“Those two weeks got nothing on me,” Franz said. “It’s just great to be back home and I think it was really awesome to go out a great way for senior night so I’m excited to be back and excited to take on these next two weeks.”

Another notable performance came from DeCavitch who recorded a 9.900 as part of the team’s floor routine, finishing with a score of 49.275. DeCavitch finished second in the meet in all-around scoring.

The Flashes posted a score of 49.000 on the bars for the second meet in a row. Junior Sarah Haxton was tied for first place in scoring for the event with 9.850.

The Flashes’ next highest scoring event was on the vault with a score of 48.950. Junior Kyndall Gilbert led the team in scoring for the event with a score of 9.850.

Though an improvement from last meet’s performance of 48.600 on the beam, it was the team’s lowest scoring event for the second week in a row with a score of 48.750. Leading the team in scoring for the event was senior Cami Klein with a score of 9.850.

KSU finished the regular season with a 6-9 record overall and 3-3 record in the MAC.

“I certainly truly believe that we have the ability to win the meet next week,” Biggin said. “But we have to be able to really hit all four events at our best and that’s really what it’s going to take is we have to be at our best next week.”

The Flashes’ next meet is on Saturday for the MAC Championships hosted by Kent State University.

“I think the encouraging thing is we are at home and anytime you have a championship meet you certainly like to be at home,” Biggin said. “It’s equipment that the kids are familiar with and they are familiar with the surroundings.”

When asked if he had a message for Kent State fans ahead of Saturday, Biggin said he wanted them to “be loud” and “be supportive.”

“Sometimes that little bit of extra noise is enough to get the judges really feeling like they’ve done a phenomenal routine,” Biggin said. “The more noise they can make, the better. The atmosphere is going to be electric in here and when we can get our crowd really pushing for our team, that sometimes can be the difference maker.”

The Flashes’ next meet is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday in the M.A.C. Center.

Michael Neenan is a reporter. Contact him at [email protected].