NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State gymnastics team heads to Denton, Texas, to compete in the 2015 Midwest Independent Conference (MIC) Championships Saturday at 4 p.m., in Kitty Magee Arena.
The six-team meet will include gymnasts from Illinois State, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri, Illinois-Chicago, Texas Woman's and Centenary. The meet will be conducted using an NCAA-regional type format, with each team being on a bye for two rotations.
Head coach Bob Conkling is excited to see his team's improvement, in what he expects to be a very competitive meet with quality gymnasts.
"The team has looked good in workouts the past two weeks," Conkling said. "The field is strong this year with every team in the conference posting high scores. We are looking forward to a strong battle for the conference title and feel confident that the Redbirds will put in another strong performance."
ISU is coming off of a season-high score of 48.650 in the floor competition. Danci Cha and Sarah Fisher carried the team with scores of 9.775, respectively, along with senior Kristen Lieberman posting a personal-best score of 9.700, leading the Redbirds to third place in the Illinois Classic.
ISU enters the meet ranked second in the MIC by team Regional Qualifying Score (RQS). Lindenwood has the top RQS, 194.200, of the six MIC teams, followed by Illinois State (193.545), Southeast Missouri (193.135), TWU (192.500), Illinois-Chicago (192.175), and Centenary (190.560). An RQS is based on a team's six best regular season scores, three of which must be away. The overall high score is eliminated, and the five remaining scores are averaged.
Lindenwood finished third on March 14 in a quad meet in Corvallis, Oregon. The Lady Lions recorded a team score of 194.125, marking the fifth time this season they have hit the 194 mark. Centenary posted a season-high score of 193.775 in its final home meet of the season. The Ladies recorded season-bests on bars (48.400), beam (48.775) and floor (48.725).
Southeast Missouri was defeated 193.625-191.800 by Illinois-Chicago on Sunday, March 15 at the UIC Pavilion. The Redhawks recorded a season-high 48.825 on balance beam, as four gymnasts established career-bests in the event.
Rounding out the MIC teams, TWU scored a 193.400, its best road score of the season, in front of 4,238 fans at the O'Connell Center in Gainesville. TWU won the MIC title in 2010, the last time the meet was held in front of the Pioneers' home fans.
Southeast Missouri State took the 2014 conference championship title with a score of 195.275, followed by Texas Woman's in second with 194.500. Lindenwood was third with a 194.250, UIC was next in fourth with a 193.525 and ISU finished fifth with a 192.450. Centenary rounded out the competition in sixth with a team total of 191.450. Sami King earned all-conference honors with her victory on the beam, and Fisher rounded out the all-conference and event winners with a win on the vault.
Fans can follow along with live action at Saturday's meet at http://twuathletics.com/sports/2015/1/6/GYM_0106152324.aspx?id=390.
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