Feb. 11, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State gymnastics will head north for its first away meet of the season to take on Midwest Independent Conference rivals Illinois-Chicago on Friday, Feb. 12, at 7 p.m. in the Physical Education Building in Chicago, Ill.
After hosting five consecutive meets, this marks the Redbirds' first time competing on the road this season. ISU is currently the top-ranked team in the conference, while UIC is ranked fifth. Kim Genereux is ranked first in the conference on the uneven bars, while Tori Sarantakis, Melissa Mann and Erica Schick are ranked second on vault, balance beam and the all-around, respectively.
Head coach Bob Conkling is not worried about the idea of facing a conference rival.
"The goal of every competition is to go in and hit every routine and event," Conkling said. "It doesn't matter if it is a conference meet or not, it's about our performance as a team."
Conkling believes the team is ready to move their performance onto the road.
"We have gotten comfortable competing at home, so it will be a challenge adjusting to a new environment and equipment," Conkling said. "But the student-athletes are all used to travelling, so I know they will do well away from home."
In their last meet, the Redbirds (194.150) edged Ball State (193.925) and set a new season-high team score. The Cardinals took the higher score on the first rotation, but the Redbirds came back to win the uneven bars (48.750), balance beam (48.525) and the floor exercise (48.675). Andrea Orris set three new career-highs on the uneven bars (9.750), the balance beam (9.775) and the floor exercise (9.825). Career-highs were also set on the bars by Genereux (9.800) and Apollonia Barrientos (9.800) and Schick set a career-high on the floor exercise (9.875).
"The team is still coming-off how well they performed last week against Ball State," Conkling said. "Receiving such a high team score gave the student-athletes such confidence. They are ready to go on the road."
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