Labat Named MIC Gymnast of the Year, Redbirds Finish Second At MIC Championship

NORMAL, Ill. – Sophomore standout Angelica Labat was named the 2021 Midwest Independent Conference Gymnast of the Year and took home the all-around title Friday, as Illinois State came in second place with a score of 195.225 at the 2021 MIC Championship hosted by Illinois State at Redbird Arena.

Scoring Breakdown:
•    Lindenwood: 195.575
•    Illinois State: 195.225
•    Southeast Missouri State: 194.825
•    Texas Woman's: 193.450
•    Centenary: 188.725

Thoughts From ISU Head Coach Bob Conkling:
"We obviously were hoping to win, but I thought our team performed extremely well and Lindenwood was just a bit better today. I felt like we lost it a little on balance beam and that may have cost us, but they did a great job tonight and we are extremely proud of their effort. We as coaches knew we needed a 49.200 heading into that final rotation to tie Lindenwood and the scores all night had not been extremely high, so we knew it was going to be a tall task to catch them. I feel like we had a fantastic season considering all the circumstances and this last month we've competed extremely well. It should be great momentum heading into next year."

Team Notes:
•    Illinois State's score of 49.000 on vault was its second-highest score of the season and fifth-highest score in school history.
•    Labat was recognized as the MIC Gymnast of the Year during the post-meet awards ceremony, after she earned MIC Gymnast of the Week honors four times during the season … this follows her MIC Newcomer of the Year honor as a freshman last season.
•    Assistant coaches Chris Muras and Megan Harrington were voted as the MIC Assistant Coaches of the Year as well.

Gymnast Notes:
•    Labat took home the all-around crown with a score of 39.175, just ahead of Southeast Missouri's Dahlia Solorzano-Caruso in second place … she also tied for fourth overall on vault (9.825) to take home All-MIC First Team honors and took home second team honors on bars (9.800), beam (9.800) and floor (9.750).
•    Freshman J'Chelle Heard was named the MIC Champion on vault with a career-high score of 9.875.
•    Junior Sofia Iribarren also took home some hardware, as she was crowned the MIC Champion on bars with a career-best score of 9.900.
•    Freshman Madison Kipp scored a 9.825 on beam to finish in a tie for third place, which earned her All-MIC First Team honors.
•    Senior Cameron Topp (9.850) and freshman Isabella DeCroo (9.775) each earned All-MIC honors on floor in a crowded leaderboard.
•    Senior Isabelle Fox finished in third place overall in the all-around (38.875) to take home All-MIC honors … she also earned second team honors on beam (9.750), vault (9.775) and floor (9.775).

All-MIC Performers
•    Bars 
Sofia Iribarren, First Team
Charlise Doctor, Second Team
Angelica Labat, Second Team
Isabella DeCroo, Second Team
•    Beam 
Madison Kipp, First Team
Angelica Labat, Second Team
Isabelle Fox, Second Team 
•    Vault 
 J'Chelle Heard, First Team
Angelica Labat, First Team
Charlise Doctor, Second Team
Isabelle Fox, Second Team
•    Floor
Cameron Topp, First Team
Isabella DeCroo, First Team
Angelica Labat, Second Team
Mia Quigg, Second Team
Isabelle Fox, Second Team
Sofia Iribarren, Second Team
•    All-Around 
Angelica Labat, First Team
Isabelle Fox, First Team

Up Next:
The Redbirds will wait to see if they have any individuals qualify for the NCAA Regional, as the field will be announced on Monday, March 22, live at 4 p.m. CT on NCAA.com.

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