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NORMAL, Ill. – Coming off of last weekend's Illinois Classic, the Illinois State women's gymnastics team welcomes Lindenwood on Friday, Mar. 10, beginning at 7 p.m. for Senior Night. The Redbirds are honoring seniors Demi Pas, Samantha Ward and Kristyn Bossle for their dedication to the program these past years.
"I'm always emotional at Senior Night, when we recognize the senior gymnasts," ISU head coach Bob Conkling said. "The four years go by so fast for the athletes and for the coaches. We really look forward to celebrating these three seniors' successes from past four years at ISU."
Last weekend, Illinois came in first with a score 196.150, Illinois State and Northern Illinois tied for second place with a score of 193.550 and UIC finished fourth with a 193.525. Sophomore Meredith LaRoche placed fourth in the all-around competition with a score of 38.825, which was aided by her personal-best score of 9.750 on bars.Â
"We are excited to compete against Lindenwood this Friday," Conkling said. "They have been the top team in the conference this year and it is always great to go up against strong competition. We are still working to improve our consistency and polish up all of our routines in practice this week. We have done well on all of the events this season and it is time to put it all together."
Lindenwood is first in the Midwest Independent Conference with a regional qualifying score of 194.305. They are two-time defending MIC Champions and USA Gymnastics Women's Collegiate National Champions, with Kierstin Sokolowski ranking second in the MIC on vault, fifth on bars, and first on beam.Â
"Our goal this week is to be aggressive and attack all of our routines from the beginning to the end of the competition Friday," Conkling said. "We have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so we may as well just have fun and attack the rest of the season."
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