McLean County Times

Labat, Bart-Williams Earn MIC Honors At Championship Banquet

Senior Angelica Labat and freshman Nirel Bart-Williams have been a consistent 1-2 punch for the Illinois State gymnastics program all season long and both were honored Thursday night for their stellar performances in 2023, as Labat was named the MIC Gymnast of the Year and Bart-Williams was tabbed as the MIC Newcomer of the Year at the annual pre-championship banquet hosted by Southeast Missouri State.

Labat's Gymnast of the Year honor is her third in as many seasons, as she continues to re-write the program record books at Illinois State. The Chesapeake, Virginia, native has put together a solid senior campaign posting the highest all-around score of the year in the conference at 39.400 and has the top NQS score in the league at 39.140, just ahead of teammates Bart-Williams in second and Alana Laster in fourth. 

A four-time MIC Gymnast of the Week selection, Labat also heads into the MIC Championship with the highest NQS on bars in the league at 9.835 and ranks second on vault behind Laster. The two-time reigning MIC all-around champion will look to win her third individual title in a row on Friday.

Bart-Williams, a three-time MIC Newcomer of the Week selection in 2023, is looking to make some noise in her first MIC Championship as she ranks second behind Labat in the all-around rankings and ranks in the top 5 on vault, beam and floor. The Murphy, Texas, native competed in the all-around in every meet of her inaugural collegiate campaign for the Redbirds and posted a season-high score of 39.325 in ISU's quad meet at New Hampshire and has posted 9.9 scores or better on both vault and floor this season, with her career-best score of 9.925 coming on the floor in the tri-meet with Northern Illinois and Winona State.

Illinois State will look to bring home the conference championship at the 2023 Midwest Independent Conference Championship hosted by SEMO on Friday night. The Redbirds will compete against Centenary, Lindenwood, SEMO and Texas Woman's for the conference title, with the meet streamed live on ESPN+ beginning at 5 p.m. CT.

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Original source can be found here