CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – To say Illinois State has been on a roll would be an understatement, as the Redbirds have posted team scores of 195 or better in four of the last five meets. ISU will look to continue that upward surge on Friday when it heads to Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to take on fellow Midwest Independent Conference member Southeast Missouri State at Houck Field House at 6:30 p.m.
"The team's confidence continues to improve on a weekly basis, so I believe they will perform strong routines on all four events this weekend," ISU head coach Bob Conkling said. "With SEMO being a strong team, it should be another great competition to watch this weekend."
The Redbirds and RedHawks faced off just last Friday at the GymQuarters Invitational, when the Redbirds finished second with a score of 195.175 with Southeast Missouri coming in fourth with a total of 193.075. Following the contest and a strong performance to wrap up the weekend at Lindenwood, the Redbirds found themselves ranked No. 40 in the latest Road To Nationals rankings. Much of that success is due to the team's stellar work on vault, as the Redbirds rank No. 28 nationally on the event after breaking the school record last weekend.
For the second week in a row, the Redbirds earned two weekly MIC honors as Angelica Labat was named the league's Gymnast of the Week for the third straight time and Alana Laster was selected as the Newcomer of the Week for the second week in a row. Labat is currently ranked No. 13 in the country in the all-around and No. 23 on vault and she is joined in the top 25 individual rankings by freshman Jaye Mack, who comes in at No. 23 nationally on the floor.
SEMO is led by senior star Anna Kaziska, who was recently named a 2022 AAI Award nominee. The AAI Award is given to the most outstanding senior female gymnast in the country. She was named the MIC Gymnast of the Year in 2020, the MIC Newcomer of the Year in 2019 and is a seven-time MIC All-Conference gymnast. In addition to her strong performance last weekend at the GymQuarters Invitational, Anna Speller won the individual beam event title for the RedHawks.
Live stats and watch links are available on the Illinois State gymnastics schedule page on GoRedbirds.com.
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