Road Trip To DeKalb For Dual Meet With NIU Up Next For ISU

DEKALB, Ill. – After starting the season with three straight multi-team meets, Illinois State will compete in its first dual meet of the year on Friday when the Redbirds travel to DeKalb for an in-state contest with Northern Illinois.

SETTING THE SCENE
The Redbirds and the Huskies will square off for the first of two meets in five days, as NIU hosts ISU on Friday in DeKalb before the two teams meet next Tuesday in Normal. Friday's meet is set to begin at 6 p.m. at the Convocation Center, with live stats available via Virtius on GoRedbirds.com and a live streaming on ESPN+.

THOUGHTS FROM ISU HEAD COACH BOB CONKLING
"Northern Illinois is always a tough opponent, but the team is prepared and ready to take on the challenge. This will be the first of three meets in eight days for us, so we need to get off to a good start and keep building on our previous success."

SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE
•    A trip north to Chicago for Illinois State resulted in the team's best performance of the season to date, as the Redbirds posted a season-high score of 195.650 to win the Windy City Invite last Friday night at Navy Pier.
•    Illinois State wrapped up the meet on the floor, where it posted a season-high of 49.300 to round out the stellar evening. That score of 49.300 on floor ties for the 10th-highest mark in program history.
•    As a result of the team's strong performance in Chicago, three Illinois State gymnasts earned recognition by the Midwest Independent Conference as weekly award honorees. For the second week in a row, Jaly Jones was selected as the MIC Newcomer of the Week while senior Alana Laster took home the MIC Performance of the Week award. Rounding out the weekly honors for the Redbirds was Elli Brownfield, who was selected for the MIC Coaches Choice award for Week 3.

SCOUTING NORTHERN ILLINOIS
•    NIU is ranked at No. 55 in the latest Road To Nationals rankings and a is off to a 1-5 start to the season.
•    Senior Ellery Werner won the balance beam event to highlight NIU's performance at the EMU Quad Meet last Friday night. 
•    NIU scored 193.275 to take third place in the meet ahead of Winona State. 
•    The win over Winona State was the first of NIU interim head coach Nita Teague's career. 
•    NIU honors their four seniors on Friday, Alana Anderson, Natalia Kraus, Isabella Sissi and Ellery Werner will all be honored immediately after the meet.

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

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