In a night filled with Illinois State highlights and career bests, the Redbirds posted their highest floor and overall scores of the season (49.300 and 194.125, respectively), but could not escape with a win against Southeast Missouri State Monday at Horton Field House as SEMO put up a season-high score of 194.800.
The Redbirds (5-9) suffered a setback early in the meet when senior Kristy Kreinbrink was injured on the vault. Lineups had to be altered, but in their last meet at Horton Field House, the senior gymnasts were determined to leave their mark. Jaime Reineck posted scores of 9.850 on the uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. She tied for first place on the bars with teammate Heather Mohler and SEMOs Ashley Godwin and Deanna Ogg. Mohler posted her highest all-around score of the season--38.850--behind a career-high bars score of 9.850 and a season-high floor score of 9.725. Also competing in the all-around for the Redbirds was Denise Houda, marking her return to the lineup from which she had been absent since February 16 due to injury. Houda tied with SEMOs Godwin for first place in the all-around competition when both posted scores of 39.200. Houda received a 9.900 on the floor, good for a second-place tie with teammate Lisa Klein in the event.
What made this meet the best was that the girls handled the situation so well, head coach Beth Larson said. We couldve crumbled when Kristy got hurt, but we really stepped up. We came out to perform to the best of our abilities.
Another top Redbird highlight was Courtney Johnsons first-place win on the floor. Johnson posted a career best 9.925. Illinois State had four 9.8-plus performances on the floor from Houda (9.900), Johnson (9.925), Klein (9.900) and Reineck (9.850).
Our floor perfomances were the best weve had all season, Larson commented. The girls nailed every single set. They deserved the scores they got.
Despite the high score posted by the Redbirds, Larson still sees room for improvement.
Were ready to turn up our performances even more now, Larson said. We still had to count a couple of mistakes. We have yet to peak, and were looking to do that to win the state and conference meets.
Illinois State travels to Dekalb, Ill., on Sunday, March 23, for the State of Illinois Classic with host Northern Illinois, Illinois and Illinois-Chicago. The meet is slated for a 2 p.m. start time.
