Home Quad Meet Awaits Redbird Gymnasts On Friday

NORMAL, Ill. – Coming off a season-opening victory last weekend at Bowling Green, the Illinois State gymnastics team returns home this Friday, January 12, to host a quad meet against Central Michigan, Greenville and Texas Woman's at 6 p.m.

SETTING THE SCENE
The meet will be the first of four at home  for the Redbirds at CEFCU Arena in 2024, and will feature three other teams in Central Michigan, Greenville and TWU. The event will start with the Redbirds on vault and will follow regular rotations. The meet will be streamed live on ESPN+ and live results will be available via StatBroadcast on GoRedbirds.com.

THOUGHTS FROM ISU HEAD COACH BOB CONKLING
"I think last week's performance has the team excited to get back out there and compete against three teams on Friday. The team has looked strong all week in practice and had focused on cleaning up small details from last week. We are all excited about the score from last week, but that was one meet, and our goal is to get better this week and in every meet after that as the season moves on. This group has big goals, and in order to do that we need to scoring close to that 196 mark consistently to give ourselves a chance."

SCOUTING THE REDBIRDS
•    The Redbirds are off to a strong start to the season, after posting a season-opening program record score of 195.950 in a win at Bowling Green last Sunday.
•    ISU currently ranks No. 18 in the country as a team in the latest Road To Nationals rankings and sit at No. 6 in the national beam rankings with last week's score of 49.175.
•    It was a clean sweep for ISU in the first Midwest Independent Conference weekly awards of the season, as sophomore Nirel Bart-Williams was named the Gymnast of the Week, junior Jaye Mack was selected for Performance of the Week, freshman Reese Grolla was tabbed the Newcomer of the Week and junior Mya Robison took home the first Coaches Choice honor of the young season.

SCOUTING THE CHIPPEWAS
•    Central Michigan opened its season on Monday in a head-to-head competition at Arizona State, where the Chippewas had their best season-opening performance in three years.
•    The visiting Chippewas finished just short in the 195.725-195.125 competitive matchup.
•    Despite the outcome, the Chippewas' score places them No. 24 in the latest Road To Nationals rankings.
•    On the floor, CMU's posted its highest score of the evening with a 49.075, as Hallie Hornbacher, Luciana Alvarado-Reid and Ashley Veglucci each scored 9.850 to tie for second.
•    Lia Kmieciak and Alvarado-Reid also led the way on vault, each with a 9.850. Hornbacher pitched in a 9.800 and Samantha Shannon scored 9.775 on the event.

SCOUTING THE PANTHERS
•    Greenville will be competing in just its second season as a collegiate gymnastics program.
•    Last season, the Panthers and the Redbirds squared off for the first time, with ISU coming away with a 194.625-178.475 victory on the road.
•    Sophomore Amara Nelson returns as one of the team's best gymnasts, on a team that features no seniors and continues to improve.
•    The quad meet tonight will be the first of two meets for Greenville this weekend, as they travel to St. Charles, Missouri, on Sunday to take on Lindenwood.

SCOUTING THE PIONEERS
•    The Pioneers start off their 2024 season against fellow MIC foe Illinois State, Central Michigan and Greenville.
•    TWU returns 10 gymnasts from last year's team, seven of which competed in the USAG individual finals, and eight that earned first team All-American honors.
•    Last year, TWU came in fourth at the MIC Championship with a score of 194.900, finishing behind Illinois State, Lindenwood and Southeast Missouri State. 
•    Back for her fifth year, Daisy Woodring returns to the Pioneers squad after winning the USAG Vault National Champion title in 2023. Woodring was also named the Division II CSC At-Large Academic All-American of the Year in 2023.

FOLLOW US
For all latest on Illinois State gymnastics, stay tuned to Goredbirds.com and follow the team on Instagram (@redbirdgymnastics), on X (@redbirdwgym) and Facebook.

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