Redbirds Ready For Big Test Against Illinois and Washington

NORMAL, Ill. – With the season two thirds of the way over and postseason approaching, the Illinois State gymnastics team has one of its biggest tests of the season on Saturday as the Redbirds travel east on I-74 to compete against Big Ten Conference standouts Illinois and Washington at Huff Hall.

SETTING THE SCENE
The Redbirds will compete against members of the Big Ten for the first time this season when they take on the Illini and the Huskies. However, it will not be ISU's only competition against a Big Ten foe as the Birds travel to Minnesota for a dual meet on March 8. Saturday's meet against Illinois and Washington begins at 1 p.m. at Huff Hall, and the meet will be streamed live on Big Ten Network + with live stats available on StatBroadcast on the Illinois State gymnastics schedule page.

THOUGHTS FROM ISU HEAD COACH BOB CONKLING
"We are looking forward to going against two quality Big Ten teams on Saturday. It should be a good competition with a lot of good gymnastics to watch. We hope we have a lot of Redbird fans make the trip over to Champaign to cheer us on."

SCOUTING ILLINOIS STATE
•    ISU currently ranks in a tie at No. 34 in the country as a team in the latest Road To Nationals rankings and sit at No. 23 in the national vault rankings and No. 24 on the floor.
•    Senior Alana Laster continues to prove she is one of the elite performers on vault in the country, as she currently ranks No. 21 individually on the event … she is a two-time NCAA Regional qualifier on the event in 2022 and 2023.
•    The Redbirds posted their third-highest team score of the year last Friday night, as they picked up a dual-meet win over Greenville with a final score of 195.275. 
•    For their efforts in the win against Greenville, Sara Wabi and Jaly Jones earned weekly honors from the Midwest Independent Conference. Wabi was named the MIC Gymnast of the Week for the first time in her career, while Jones took home MIC Newcomer of the Week honors for the fifth time this season. 
•    Wabi competed in the all-around for the first time in her career and went on to take the top spot in Illinois State's dual-meet win with a career-high score of 38.500, which was aided by three top 5 individual finishes. 
•    Jones was solid once again for the Redbirds, as the Lindenwood transfer picked up a second-place finish on beam for the Redbirds with a 9.825 and added a seventh-place finish on floor with a 9.700.

SCOUTING ILLINOIS
•    Illinois is ranked No. 21 in the country according to Road To Nationals, thanks to a No. 14 national ranking on the floor and a No. 21 ranking on the vault.
•    After finishing third at the Zou to the Lou Quad on Feb. 14, the Illini fell to Iowa on Feb. 16 by a score of 196.200-194.975.
•    Freshman Chloe Cho bested her career high with a 9.900 on vault to lead the Illini and take the event title by a 0.050 margin of victory. Cho also won the all-around with a score of 39.375 and is now a four-time winner of the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award (most in program history).

SCOUTING WASHINGTON
•    Washington is ranked No. 38 in the country according to Road To Nationals, bolstered by a No. 23 national ranking on beam.
•    The Huskies recently fell to Maryland by a score of 195.725-194.650 but saw standout individual performances from Kira Bolden and Lex Mouyenga on vault, while Taylor Russon earned a personal best 9.950 on beam. 
•    Russon, Chelsea Hallinan, and Emily Innes all sit among the top 25 in the Big Ten individual beam standings to lead the way for the GymDawgs.

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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