NORMAL, Ill. – With two meets already behind them early in 2019, the Illinois State gymnastics squad returns to action Friday, Jan. 11, when they head to Michigan to face a talented Central Michigan program at 6 p.m. at McGuirk Arena.
Thoughts from Coach Conkling:
"Central Michigan is always a tough program and I'm guessing they will be ranked in the top 30 nationally and make regionals again this year as a team. This week, we focused more on details and not so much on numbers in practice, because of the two meets last weekend and the long trip back home Sunday into Monday. We're looking forward to building on what we did in Alaska and hitting our routines for better scores this weekend."
Against CMU:
The Redbirds and the Chippewas competed twice last season, with CMU coming out victorious in both events … in the season opener in Mount Pleasant (Jan. 6), Gabrielle Cooke won the all-around competition with a score of 38.675, aided by a score of 9.850 on the floor exercise, and teammate Meredith LaRoche finished second for the Redbirds … the second meet at Horton Field House (Feb. 9) was much closer, as ISU scored a then season-best score of 192.025 to finished second in the dual meet.Â
Redbird News and Notes:
The Redbirds earned two of the Midwest Independent Conference's weekly honors, as junior Gabrielle Cooke was named the MIC Gymnast of the Week and sophomore Savannah Remkus was honored with the Performance of the Week … the duo aided in helping ISU split a pair of opening weekend meets at Alaska Anchorage … the meet against CMU is the third of four on the road for ISU to start the season, before the Redbirds host their first home meet at Horton Field House on Jan. 25 against Southeast Missouri.
About The Chippewas:
Denelle Pedrick posted a 9.850 on the floor exercise in the final rotation, as the Chippewas won the event in topping a strong field in its season-opening quad meet last weekend … CMU's strong performance on the floor exercise was the difference, as the Chippewas finished first with a 194.875 team score ahead of Arizona in second (194.750), followed by Illinois (192.850) and Division II Bridgeport (192.575) … Illinois was ranked 22nd in the preseason poll, while the Chippewas were 30th and Arizona was 33rd … for her efforts, named the Mid-American Conference Gymnast of the Week.
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