McLean County Times

The Illinois State gymnastics team faced a challenging competition against the University of Minnesota, ranked 15th nationally, in Minneapolis. The meet ended with Minnesota winning by a score of 197.125 to Illinois State's 195.200 at Maturi Pavilion.

Illinois State head coach Bob Conkling reflected on the team's performance, stating, "The team was strong on two of the four events tonight, but gave away a lot of points that we could have used especially on bars and beam. I know how capable this team is on all four events and they need to pull it all together again."

During the meet, Illinois State showed promise in several areas. They started on bars with a score of 48.650, highlighted by two scores of 9.800. Their performance improved during the vault rotation with a season-high score of 49.125, bringing them closer to Minnesota midway through the event.

In the third rotation on floor exercise, Illinois State scored 49.175, narrowing the gap with Minnesota before entering the final rotation on beam. However, they had to count a fall and finished with a score of 48.250.

Individually, senior Jaye Mack stood out by tying for second place on vault with a score of 9.900 while teammates Mya Robinson and Alana Laster tied for fifth at 9.825 each. On bars, Jada Beswick and Sara Wabi both scored 9.800 to tie for fifth place among Redbird gymnasts.

Leah Davis led Illinois State on beam with a score of 9.825 to tie for fourth place overall; Ally Lau followed in seventh place scoring 9.800.

On floor exercise, both Laster and Mack achieved scores of 9.875 tying them for third place overall.

Looking ahead, Illinois State will host Southeast Missouri State at CEFCU Arena for Senior Night on March 15th at 5 p.m., marking their final regular-season meet before heading into MIC Championships hosted by Centenary College later this month.

For further updates about Illinois State gymnastics including ticket information or merchandise inquiries visit GoRedbirds.com or follow them across social media platforms such as Instagram (@redbirdgymnastics), X (@redbirdwgym), or Facebook.