ISU Gymnastics Wins Home-Opener Against Centenary

NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State women's gymnastics team earned their first win of the season in their home-opener against Centenary Sunday in Horton Field House with a score of 188.750-185.250.

"We started off really strong on vault, much better than we did last week," head coach Bob Conkling said. "Sarah Fisher and Laura Jonas twisted this week, which was big for us. First one up to last one up, we were sharp."

The Redbirds took an early lead on vault with a score of 48.200, as Kristyn Bossle scored the highest of the Redbirds with an average of 9.75. Centenary struggled on the bars in its first rotation with a score of 44.925. The Ladies had to take three scores under nine in their running score.

Illinois State was impressive in the second rotation with a score of 48.575 on bars. Sami King scored a 9.800, maintaining the Redbirds' lead at 96.775-91.775. Bossle continued her strong start the meet with a 9.775 on bars.

"I was very excited with our performance on bars, because we were rough in that event last week," Conkling said. "It was our best event today."

The Ladies cut into the deficit with a 46.700 on the floor during the third rotation and were led by Ashley White, who scored a 9.725. The Redbirds struggled on the beam with several gymnasts recording falls, but Jonas carried the team on the beam with a 9.600.

"We were hitting beam in practice, and although we had some good things happen on beam especially with Jonas placing first with a solid performance, we had falls," Conkling said. "We are a much better team on beam than what we showed today."

Junior Sarah Fisher scored a 9.750 to win the floor event in the final rotation, giving the Redbirds an event score of 46.850. Centenary ultimately fell short on floor with a 46.700, as the Redbirds came away with the victory. 

"I was very happy for Danci Cha, who hit her floor routine," Conkling said. "Fisher had a great floor routine to win floor."

The ISU gymnasts will next travel to Illinois-Chicago on Sunday, Jan. 25, at 2 p.m., inside the UIC Pavilion.

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