LINCOLN, Neb. – The Illinois State gymnastics competed against two of the top teams in the country Saturday night, as the Redbirds placed third at the 29th Annual Masters Classic at the Bob Devaney Sports Center against No. 9 Kentucky and No. 18 Nebraska. No. 13 Boise State was also scheduled to compete, but travel issues forced the Broncos to pull out of the competition.
Scoring Breakdown:
• No. 9 Kentucky: 197.675
• No. 18 Nebraska: 197.200
• Illinois State: 191.625
Thoughts from Coach Bob Conkling:
"When you have to count four falls on the first two events of the competition (bars and beam), you just hope you can finish the night with some highlights in the last two events and I think our team was able to do that. We were a bit short-handed on floor, but we pulled off three scores of 9.8 or higher for a strong team total and finished well with a couple strong vaults. I was particularly impressed with Mia Quigg and Savannah Remkus being solid in all three events they competed in tonight. Overall, we need to clean some things up this week as we head into the MIC Championships next week at Centenary."
Team Notes:
• The Redbirds struggled out of the gate on bars and beam, having to count four falls total between the two rotations
• However, with only five floor performers available, ISU rebounded with a strong turn on the floor with three scores of 9.800 or higher to post the team's highest individual event score of the night at 48.850
• ISU capped off the night on vault, with a solid score of 48.400
Gymnast Notes:
• Quigg was the top Redbird finisher in two events, tying for eighth place on floor with a score of 9.825 and tying for 13th on bars with a 9.700
• Remkus led the way for ISU on beam, posting a score of 9.725 to finish 12th overall
• Gabrielle Cooke posted a 9.775 on vault to place in the top 12, and was followed by teammate Charlise Doctor with one of her best vaults of the season of 9.750
• Cooke also tied for eighth on floor with Quigg with a 9.825 to round out an all-around performance of 38.325 to finish sixth overall
• Kylie Meyer (38.225) and Meredith LaRoche (38.200) also competed in the all-around for the Redbirds, finishing in seventh and eighth places, respectively, behind their teammate Cooke
Up Next:
• The Redbirds compete in the Midwest Independent Conference Championship, hosted by Centenary, at 6 p.m. on Friday, March 22 in Shreveport, Louisiana.
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App: Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
