Feb. 11, 2009
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State gymnastics team (5-6) will travel to Cape Girardeau, Mo., Feb. 13 to take on host Southeast Missouri State (6-2). The Midwest Independent Conference meet is set to begin at 7 p.m.
Head coach Bob Conkling is confident that his team will stick their routines Friday. They have worked hard in practice all week and are excited to compete against a tough gymnastics team.
"SEMO is having a great year," Conkling said. "There is no doubt that it is going to be a tough competition, but we traditionally do well when we go to SEMO. I think their caliber of gymnastics is at such a high level that it raises ours too. We are very excited about competing against SEMO."
Conkling's only concern about the meet is the condition of sophomore Robin Weissman's shoulder.
"The only thing that concerns us right now is Robin Weissman's shoulder," said Conkling. "She has been our top bar scorer and a strong all-around gymnast for us. We aren't sure yet if we are going to have to replace her completely or just have her do a couple events.
The Redbirds fell to Southeast Missouri State191.725-191.525 in their first competition of the season. The `Birds placed a gymnast at the top of each event against SEMO. Senior Meaghan Koshman won the vault with a score of 9.825. Weissman placed first on the uneven bars with a 9.750 and junior Jessica Prousa tied for first of the balance beam with a 9.775. Sophomore Hannah Deutsch also took first place for her floor routine with a 9.775.
SEMO is currently leading the Midwest Independent Conference in team totals with 193.190, outscoring the third-place Redbirds, who have a score of 191.415. As a team, SEMO is also at the top of each individual event in the conference followed closely by Illinois State who is placing gymnasts in the top-two spots in both the floor exercise and the balance beam.
