Feb. 28, 2010
Final Stats
CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. -
Although Illinois State, led by Erica Schick (38.775), posted a strong team score (193.275), they could not hold off Midwest Independent conference rival Southeast Missouri State (194.375) in a meet Sunday at the Houck Field House in Cape Girardeau, Mo.
The Redbirds started off the meet only a tenth of a point behind SEMO following the first rotation (48.450-48.350) but the `Birds could not hold off the high-scoring Redhawks and faced their second loss of the weekend. Despite the loss, the Redbirds posted impressive scores on all the events, particularly the uneven bars (48.350) and floor exercise (48.575).
Coach Bob Conkling focused more on the team's performances and scores than the idea of a loss.
"I think the entire team did really well today," Conkling said. "There were no major mistakes, just a couple small execution errors and a couple sloppy moments. Those deductions add up but when it comes down to it, the team had really strong performances."
The `Birds were once again led in scoring by Schick who posted a 9.825 on the floor exercise, 9.800 on the uneven bars and 9.700 on the vault. Schick tied for first on both the floor exercise and uneven bars. Hannah Deutsch and Kim Genereux boasted strong routines on the floor exercise with scores of 9.775 and 9.725, respectively. Tori Sarantakis led the Redbirds on vault with a score of 9.775. Melissa Mann took second place for her balance beam performance posting a 9.775
"I have been very please with Erica's performances this entire weekend," Conkling said. "She was close to winning the all around title, but I'm still very proud of her. Tori had a great meet, her vault routine was solid and she performed an exhibition on the balance beam and nailed it. Also, Hannah and Kim Genereux hit on the floor exercise and Kim Caron was great on the bars."
Coach Conkling doesn't blame the hectic schedule for this afternoon's loss.
"You can't use travel or two meets in a weekend as an excuse for a loss," Conkling said. "I'm sure the schedule did play a role as the student-athletes are physically tired, but that is just something you get used to as an athlete. It's not an excuse for a lesser performance and I think the athletes still performed really well today."
