Redbirds Set To Open 2022 Gymnastics Season At Missouri

COLUMBIA, Mo. – The Illinois State gymnastics program opens the 2022 season against a strong pair of opponents on Friday, as the Redbirds travel to Columbia, Missouri, to take on the No. 16 ranked Missouri Tigers and the Ball State Cardinals inside the Hearnes Center at 7 p.m.

"We are excited to finally start our season after a long but productive preseason," ISU head coach Bob Conkling said. "Mizzou and Ball State had strong teams last year, so I feel it will be a great competition to see how we compare at the beginning of the season. Our team is well prepared and looked confident in workouts, so I expect they will transfer that over to the competition floor. I'm so proud of how well this team has pushed to have strong routines to start off the season."

The Redbirds tallied 26 votes in the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association 2022 preseason poll of the top women's collegiate gymnastics teams in the country. Illinois State finished the 2021 season ranked No. 43 overall in the national rankings, with a National Qualifying Score of 195.338. The Redbirds came in second at the Midwest Independent Conference Championship and took home a total of 19 all-conference honors at the meet. 

ISU will once again be led by 2021 MIC Gymnast of the Year Angelica Labat, who along with teammate Cameron Topp qualified for the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional last year. Labat returns for a third season, looking to build on her NCAA Regional championship-winning performance on the vault and add another trip to the NCAA Championships to her resumé. She will be joined by 2021 MIC Champion on vault J'Chelle Heard and MIC Champion on bars Sophia Iribarren as conference champs looking to bring ISU its first league title since 2012.  

Mizzou enters the 2022 season ranked No. 16 in the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association 2022 preseason poll. It marks the third-consecutive year the Tigers have been ranked No. 16 heading into the season and the sixth-consecutive season Mizzou was selected in the preseason Top 20. The Tigers have eleven gymnasts returning this year, including All-American Helen Hu on beam.

The Cardinals produced a national qualifying score of 195.725 during the 2021 regular season to rank 37th nationally, falling just shy of the program's second-ever NCAA regional team berth. However, BSU had four individuals qualify for the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional and three of them return this season in Grace Evans (Bars), Megan Teter (Bars) and Victoria Henry (Vault). The Cardinals top two scorers from last season are back as well in senior Marissa Nychyk and sophomore Hannah Ruthberg. 

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