Feb. 24, 2010
NORMAL, Ill. -
Illinois State gymnastics is set to close its streak of four road meets with a pair this weekend; first against Big-12 conference member, Missouri (Feb. 26 at 6:30 p.m.) and second against Midwest Independent rival Southeast Missouri State (Feb. 28 at 2 p.m.).
The `Birds will first take on the No. 19 Tigers, Friday at Hearnes Arena in Columbia, Mo., during the Missouri Cat Classic. The last time the `Birds participated in the Cat Classic was in 2005, when the Tigers came out on top, 195.250-187.900.
Head coach Bob Conkling has let the team take time this week to rest and recover in preparation for the weekend.
"The team has a couple days off for recovery," Conkling said. "The student-athletes need some time to get rested. We're going to back to the basics and not practicing quite so many routines. I'm just looking to fine-tune the routines and keep eliminating any deductions."
On Sunday, the Redbirds will head to Houck Field House in Cape Girardeau, Mo., take on the Redhawks. The `Birds hosted SEMO earlier this season and dropped a close decision, 190.800-190.500. The `Hawks are currently leading the Midwest Independent Conference.
"It's always a rivalry when we face a conference opponent," Conkling said. "I'm not surprised they slipped ahead of us in the conference rankings. We're looking to regain some points we lost due to small errors and execute clean routines."
The Redbirds enter the dual-meet weekend coming off a second-place finish in a tri-meet against Ball State and Texas Women's University. The `Birds (191.400) bested TWU (191.200) but fell to Ball State (192.075). The balance beam proved to be the event with the best performances for the Redbirds with a team score of 48.325. The top three places on balance beam were all from ISU; Mann took first (9.750) followed by Andrea Orris (9.725) and Hannah Deutsch (9.650). Schick had a solid meet, placing second in the all around (38.550) and tying for second on the uneven bars (9.750). The highest scoring event for the Redbirds was floor exercise, with a 48.350.
"The team is going into this weekend with great motivation," Conkling said. "Last week we didn't perform with our usual spark, so that gives the team more motivation to really hit their routines and do well against two very tough teams."
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