NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State gymnastics team wore their new pink leotards for the first time this season in their annual meet for cancer awareness and they shined in them, as the Redbirds posted a season-high score of 195.200 to defeat Bowling Green and Midwest Independent Conference foe Centenary on Friday night inside CEFCU Arena.
Scoring Breakdown:
•   Illinois State: 195.200
•   Bowling Green: 192.650
•   Centenary: 186.200
Thoughts From Head Coach Bob Conkling:
"I'm happy for the team with how well they performed tonight. We have known that we are a team that should be scoring 195 plus every time we compete and it was nice to finally achieve that goal."
Team Notes:
•   The Redbirds took an early lead after posting a 48.525 on vault, despite lower scores than normal for ISU on the event.
•   ISU expanded its lead after the second event, when it scored a 48.900 on bars which was the team second-best score on the apparatus this year.
•   A score of 48.600 on beam, thanks to a pair of scores over 9.800 kept the Redbirds in the lead headed into the final rotation.
•   Once again, the Redbirds closed things out strong on floor with a score of 49.175 just short of their season high set last week of 49.225.
Gymnast Notes:
•   Senior Angelica Labat won the all-around for the third-straight meet, posting a score of 39.125 just ahead of freshman Nirel Bart-Williams, who scored a career-high 39.100 to finish second overall.
•   Bart-Williams took the event win on vault with a career-best 9.825 and Jaye Mack was right behind in second place with a 9.775. Isabella DeCroo and Alana Laster also posted top-5 finishes with matching scores of 9.650 to tie for fourth place.
•   Labat tied a season-high score of 9.875 on bars to take the event win, just ahead of teammate Julia Heiner in second with a season-best 9.850. Laster also finished in the top-5 for the Redbirds in a tie for fourth place with a score of 9.775.
•   The Redbirds took the top four spots on beam, with Labat leading the way with a season-best score of 9.850 in first place. She was followed by Madison Kipp in second with a 9.800, Bart-Williams in third with a career-best 9.775 and Laster in fourth with a 9.725.
•   It was another dominant effort on the floor to close things out, with four Redbirds at the top of the event standings as Labat scored a career-high 9.900 to take the crown. She was followed by Mack with a 9.875, Sara Wabi with a 9.825 and Kaitlyn Donovan with a 9.800.
Up Next:
Illinois State will travel to Fort Worth, Texas, to compete in the competitive Metroplex Challenge against No. 4 Utah and No. 17 Georgia next Saturday. The Redbirds will compete in the afternoon session, before sticking around to watch the evening session that features No. 1 ranked Oklahoma, No. 11 Alabama, No. 18 Arkansas and No. 24 Stanford.
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