Feb. 11, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
Hey Redbird fans! This is freshman Hannah Meyer (a.k.a. Georgia)! This past weekend we rode on a bus all the way to La Crosse, Wisconsin, where we competed against host Wisconsin-La Crosse and Winona State.
Once we got to the meet, we went into a toasty locker room next to the pool which smelled like chlorine. While in the locker room, we were able to get ready for our team warm-up. After our warm-up, we had an encouraging talk with our co-captains and coach Bob Conkling!
After warm-ups, we were looking good! Our first event was beam. This is a good rotation for us, because we get to end on bars! We struggled with beam in the beginning, but we came through in the end. After beam, we kept our heads up and attacked harder on our floor routines! We successfully completed floor by performing our routines to the crowd and getting everyone pumped! After two rotations, we were in the lead!
Our next event was vault, where I made my debut! I led the team off on vault followed by Emily Matko! After we vaulted, Hannah Deutsch, Melissa Mann, and Erica Schick prepared to perform their vault routines! Last but not least, Meaghan Koshman helped bring in the six-for-six performance when she hit her vault! Yay! After this rotation we were still in the lead!
We had to wait awhile before our next event started, but we stayed pump! Our final event of the night was bars. We were lonely on bars because our own bars man, assistant coach Steve Avgernios, wasn't there. After our long wait we were worried about our warm-up, but we stayed in control and were still looking good. We were ready to hit another six-for-six.
The first one to attack the bars was Jessica Prousa. She nailed her routine with flying colors! Next, was Stacie Morris followed by Andrea Orris, who both had strong routines. The next two gymnasts were Emily Matko and Mary Hankosky, who dominated their routines by sticking their landings! The last to go was Erica, and she stuck her landing, giving us our second six-for-six! Sorry Steve, wish you were there to see this achievement. Props to Steve, because we know he was there in spirit!! After this successful event, the team went into a huddle to talk about how the meet went.
Even though we started on a rough note, we still came through with an unbelievable finish and three six-for-six hits! At the end of the meet there was an awards ceremony, where we almost had everyone who competed stand up on the podium! On bars, we had a clean sweep by placing a gymnast in the top-six places! We also took first place in every event! Next came the final team scores and, sure enough, we won!
One achievement that we accomplished was staying in the lead the whole meet. After our great win, we decided to go to Disney World! Just kidding, we went on the bus to Subway with one employee!! Then we got back on the bus to head back to Redbird Country with an over whelming attitude of success!
