March 9, 2007
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State gymnastics team takes competition to Michigan on Saturday to compete against Eastern Michigan, Central Michigan and Ball State at the Eagle Invitational hosted by Eastern Michigan. The meet will take place at Bowen Field House at 1 p.m.
Head coach Bob Conkling is looking forward to the quadrangular meet.
"It's going to be a tight competition," Conkling said. "Ball State has had a similar season to ours and both Michigan teams have beaten us. If we hit our routines, we will be right up there with them."
In ISU's first meet of the season, their score of 180.400 could not compare to CMU's 191.075. Last Wednesday, the `Birds trailed with a score of 190.300 against EMU's 192.950. The `Birds are capable of turning out a score of 190 and higher, as they scored a season high (192.425) against Texas Woman's, Illinois-Chicago and Boise State on February 17.
A season-high floor exercise score of 48.075 against Illinois and UW-La Crosse last Sunday does not yet show how well the Redbird gymnasts are able to compete on their best event.
"We still didn't have the best floor routine last week," said Conkling. "We had minor deductions that we can easily clean up for Saturday. I expect both bars and beam to go a lot better this weekend as well."
Freshman Andrea Orris will most likely be out of competition on the balance beam for Saturday's meet. Senior Carolina Posada, a top competitor on the floor exercise, will step into the slot.
