SHREVEPORT, La. - Five home meets during the month of February and a dual meet against a 2017 NCAA Regional participant highlight the 2018 Centenary gymnastics schedule released by seventh year head coach Jackie Fain on Thursday, October 5.
"We are excited about our schedule this year. We have five home meets in February which should prove to be very competitive meets!" explained Fain. "We are looking forward to hosting last year's USA Gymnastics Collegiate national champions, Texas Woman's, for two meets. This will be a great opportunity to see how we are looking early in the season against last year's number one team; it could be a turning point for us to either pick it up, or a confidence booster as we head into the heavy part of our season. We will also see the University of Alaska, who we were very competitive with last year, along with Southeast Missouri State for senior night."
After spending the entire month of January away from home, the Ladies compete in the comfy confines of the Gold Dome for five consecutive meets. Texas Woman's visits Shreveport on February 2 and 4, while Alaska will descend upon the Gold Dome for a pair of meets February 9 and 11. After a week off, Centenary will celebrate senior night against MIC foe Southeast Missouri State February 23.
The Ladies will be tested right from meet one when they visit Kent State on January 14, as the Golden Flashes qualified for NCAA Regional competition last season. Centenary closes out the first month of competition with a visit to the three-time defending Midwest Independent Conference (MIC) Champion Lindenwood Lions on January 19.
The Maroon and White finish out the month of February with a trip west on I-20 to take part in the Texas Woman's Quadrangle with Southeast Missouri State and Bridgeport on the 25th.
After a pair of MIC competitions against Illinois State (March 4) and Southeast Missouri State (March 9), the Ladies compete in the Bridgeport Quadrangle (with Yale and Brown) for the final meet of the regular season. The annual MIC championships close out the month of March on Friday night, March 23. The Ladies will travel to St. Charles, Missouri, with UIC, Southeast Missouri State, Illinois State, Texas Woman's, and host Lindenwood.
"Our away schedule will be challenging," explained Fain. "Our first meet is a NCAA DI school, Kent State, who has qualified for NCAA championships nine of the last 10 seasons, and in our second meet we will face the 2017 MIC Champions, Lindenwood, on the road. We will also face two more conference schools in Illinois State and Southeast Missouri. We end our season on the road going against six-time USA Gymnastics Collegiate National Champions, the University of Bridgeport Knights."
For the postseason, the NCAA Regionals will be contested Saturday, April 7, with the USA Gymnastics Team and Individual Championships at Texas Woman's Friday-Sunday, April 13-15.
"We are looking forward to a challenging schedule and are working hard to be ready to go against some of our toughest competition during the regular season. This will help us to raise our level of competitiveness and be ready for post-season!" added Fain.
