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Imagine trying to keep your balance—and your belief in yourself—on a four-inch beam with 3,000 people yelling and screaming around you. That was the challenge for members of the Golden Flashes women’s gymnastics team as they competed in the 2015 Mid-American Conference Championship, hosted at Kent State, in March.

Gymnasts on the team had hit 23 consecutive routines and had closed in on defending champion Central Michigan when bars specialist and junior communication studies major Rebecca Osmer was the last one up. She hit her routine and stuck her dismount to clinch the Golden Flashes victory by one-tenth of a point, 196.375–196.275. 

“I’ve been preparing for that moment all year,” says Osmer, who had visualized nailing it at the event. She had learned a new dismount at the end of last summer, and perfecting it helped her earn a career-high score of 9.9. But all her teammates had made the win possible; none of them had scored lower than 9.7 on any event.

“I can’t give the girls enough credit for their ability to believe in and trust themselves,” says head coach Brice Biggin, who is now five-for-five when hosting the MAC Championship. “There is no better feeling than to win a championship at home.” 

Back to Along the Esplanade Summer 2015