RESULTS
NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State gymnastics team wrapped up its regular season by finishing in third place Saturday at the Midwest Independent Conference Championships, which were hosted by Illinois-Chicago at the UIC Pavilion.
"I think the team did really well today," ISU head coach Bob Conkling said. "They started on beam and it was not the best, but then they gathered themselves and tied for highest on floor. Vault was good and we did great on bars. Gabrielle Cooke and Anna Marema were great on floor and bars, which led them to be conference champions."
Lindenwood won the team conference title with a score of 194.675, followed by Texans Women's in second place with a score of 194.000. The Redbirds came in third place with a score of 193.875 and UIC was next in fourth place with 192.750. Southeast Missouri State came in fifth with a score of 192.500 and Centenary scored a 190.350 to finish sixth.
Cooke earned First-Team All-MIC honors on the floor and vault, with a conference title winning effort on the floor. The freshman standout topped the leaderboard with a career-high score of 9.925 and finished second overall on the vault with a score of 9.850 as well. She also earned Second-Team All-MIC plaudits, after finishing fourth in the all-around competition with a total of 38.875.
Marema took home First-Team All-MIC honors and won the conference championship on bars with a score of 9.875 and senior Demi Pas also earned first-team honors, thanks to a second-place finish on beam with a 9.775.
Meredith LaRoche placed third in the all-around competition, just ahead of Cooke, with a score of 39.050 to earn First-Team All-MIC honors, the fourth Redbird overall to do so. Her score was aided by a third-place finish on floor with a 9.875 and a score of 9.675 on beam to finish seventh.
Madison Solka finished in a tie for sixth place on floor with a score of 9.850 to round out an extremely strong effort on the event by the Redbirds and earned second-team all-conference honors. Marie Priest also tallied a top-10 effort for ISU, as she tied for eighth with LaRoche on vault with a 9.775.
The Redbirds will now wait to see if their individual regional qualifying scores are good enough to qualify for the NCAA Regionals, which will be announced Monday.
GoRedbirds.com: Your online source for Illinois State Athletics tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
###
