March 10, 2007
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YPSILANTI, Mich. - With a score of 190.700 at the Eagle Invitational in Ypsilanti, Mich., the Illinois State gymnastics team had a close meet and placed third for the day. Freshman Jessica Prousa carded a career-best beam score of 9.825 and claimed first place in the event. Eastern Michigan took the win in the quadrangular meet with a score of 193.675, while Central Michigan placed second with a score of 193.575 and Ball State took a fourth-place finish with a score of 189.075.
Head coach Bob Conkling was extremely proud of his team at Saturday's meet.
"The girls stayed confident throughout the entire meet," Conkling said. "They held together really well and were positive all day."
The Redbird gymnasts redeemed themselves by scoring 10 points higher since their last meeting with Central Michigan at the beginning of the season. Conkling believes the meet went well because only minor mistakes were made.
"The little mistakes did not phase the team today like they may have before. They didn't let anything bother them," said Conkling. "Almost everyone hit their bar and balance beam routines today."
Sophomore Meaghan Koshman stayed strong throughout the meet and received a career-best all-around score of 38.450. Her 9.750 vault score gave her a tied third-place finish. Koshman also tied her season-high score of 9.600 on her bar set.
Abby Chovanec also received a career-best uneven bar score of 9.300. Prousa performed her vault and tied last week's personal best with a score of 9.450.
The team will compete again on Tuesday, March 13, in its last regular-season meet against Southeast Missouri State before the State of Illinois Meet on March 25.
