NORMAL, Ill. – Coming off of a strong last home meet of the season with a score of 193.975, the Illinois State gymnastics team will travel to DeKalb, Ill. to compete in the annual Illinois Classic at 6 p.m., inside the Convocation Center. The meet will include gymnasts from Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Northern Illinois and Illinois State.
After a strong week of training and improvement, head coach Bob Conkling is excited to participate in a meet that features four competitive universities in the state.
"The Illinois Classic will be a very exciting and tough competition, as we will be competing against three strong programs," Conkling said. "We are looking to build off of our past four meets, by having consistent routines from start to finish on all four events."
 ISU is coming off of a close loss as the Redbirds competed in their last home meet of the season against Ball State. Redbird junior Amanda Mohler, MIC Specialist of the Week winner, won the balance beam competition with a score of 9.825. Additionally, Mohler also carried the team on the uneven bars with a score of 9.850, placing first in the event. Junior Sarah Fisher took first in the floor competition with a season-high score of 9.850. The Redbirds ultimately fell to the Cardinals,194.475-193.975, Monday night, inside Horton Field House.
The Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team posted their third season-high score of the season with a team score of 196.425, to place second at the Masters Classic against Nebraska and San Jose State last weekend. Junior Giana O'Connor led the Illini by taking the all-around title with her first place on the balance beam with a score of 9.900, 9.925 on the uneven bars, while also placing second on the vault floor competitions with matching scores of 9.900.
Illinois-Chicago will compete against ISU for a fourth time this season as it recently suffered a loss against the Redbirds in a quad meet at Lindenwood last weekend. The Flames earned a final team score of 191.300. UIC took fourth behind Lindenwood in third (194.00), ISU in second (194.025) and EM in first (195.125).
The Northern Illinois women's gymnastics team suffered a 194.200-193.225 loss to Ball State at Irving Gym last weekend. NIU (8-3, 3-2) took the top three spots on the uneven bars, scoring a 48.500. However, Ball State (2-7, 2-3) won three of the four events, including a meet-high score of 49.100 on the vault.
The Illinois Classic will be streamed live on ESPN3: http://espn.go.com/watchespn/index/_/id/2358347/State-of-Illinois-Classic.
Following Saturday's quad meet, the Redbirds will head to Denton, Texas to compete in the Midwest Independent Conference Championships on March 21, at 4 p.m.
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