Return Meet With Northern Illinois Opens ISU Home Slate

NORMAL, Ill. – Last Friday night in DeKalb, the Illinois State gymnastics team competed against Northern Illinois in its first dual meet of the season. Fast forward four days and the Redbirds will return the favor in hosting the Huskies for their home opener on Tuesday inside Horton Field House.

SETTING THE SCENE
The Redbirds and the Huskies will square off in the second of two meets in five days, with the Redbirds coming out on top in the first meet of the split doubleheader. Tuesday's meet is set to begin at 6 p.m., with live stats available via Virtius and live video links available on GoRedbirds.com.

THOUGHTS FROM ISU HEAD COACH BOB CONKLING
"The team is excited to finally compete at home. Since we just competed Friday, we haven't had much time to train in between these two competitions, so we focused on improving those small details to help us increase our scores. The team is ready to put forward a great competition for a home crowd."

SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE
•    ISU currently ranks No. 26 in the country as a team in the latest Road To Nationals rankings and sit at No. 18 in the national floor rankings and No. 23 on the vault.
•    The Redbirds started strong and never looked back, as they posted a season-high team score of 196.150 to defeat Northern Illinois last Friday night at the Convocation Center in DeKalb.
•    The 196.150 is the fourth-highest team score in program history and the third highest in the last three seasons for the Redbirds.
•    Junior transfer Jaly Jones has made an immediate impact for the Redbirds in 2025, as she has twice been named the MIC Newcomer of the Week following her addition from Lindenwood.

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 honored their four seniors on Friday, Alana Anderson, Natalia Kraus, Isabella Sissi and Ellery Werner were all honored 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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