Feb. 17, 2007

DENTON, Texas -- Freshman Jessica Prousa placed third overall in the all-around scoring a 38.375 to help her team come in second. She also surpassed 3-out-of-4 of her personal bests receiving a 9.700 on her uneven bar set, a 9.375 on vault and 9.775 on the balance beam.

In the quadrangular meet against Illinois-Chicago, Texas Woman's and Boise State, the Illinois State gymnastics team posted a new season-high overall score of 192.425, as well as improving their win-lose record to 5-5, matching last season's amount of wins.

Head coach Bob Conkling was extremely pleased with the gymnast's performances.

"We did really well on all of the events tonight," Conkling said. "Jessica had another great night and stood out in the all-around. I didn't know the scoring all night but knew we had scored pretty well."

As the team began the meet on the floor exercise, Carolina Posada claimed a career-high. Her score of 9.775 placed her in the third place position with a tie. Vault came next and although it was not the best event for the `Birds, Amanda Candler carded a season-high of 9.650.

The `Birds also posted a new season-high overall bar score Saturday evening. With a 47.700, the gymnasts came in second. In the last event, the balance beam came to be the highest score of the evening for ISU. With a 48.850, also a season-high for the event, Anne Fjordholm (9.850) placed first with a tie. Meaghan Koshman placed second overall and received a 9.825.

"I am very proud of the girls," Conkling said. "We have been doing a lot of pressure sets in the gym and the girls have been coming up to me and saying how they have helped.

"The week off from competition gave us time in the gym to focus and to work on the things we needed to do better on."