Jan. 25, 2007

NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State gymnastics team is set compete in a dual meet against the Seawolves of Alaska-Anchorage this Friday at 7 p.m. This will be the first time in school history that Illinois State (2-2) and Alaska Anchorage (0-2) will face off.

Despite this Friday being the first competition between the two teams, head coach Bob Conkling and his team plan to prepare and compete as they would for any other competition.

"We won't prepare any differently, but we will try to bump up our difficulty for all of the events. We need to clean up and hit all of our routines to get the good scores," Conkling said.

Along with preparing the same way, lineups will stay similar to weeks past. However, sophomore Meaghan Koshman will be back to compete in the all-around after a strained knee held her back during the first two competitions.

"I know Meaghan is excited to be back in the all-around lineup. She is looking good and ready to compete," said Conkling.

Senior Whitney Albright and freshman Jessica Prousa are slated to compete in the all-around as well. This will be Prousa's third time competing in the all-around for Illinois State.

"Jessica has stepped into the events that we needed," Conkling said. "We knew she would be strong on beam and bars and it worked out that she could also fill in on the vault and floor exercise."

The Seawolves' trip to the Midwest will include a double meet, ending with a competition on Sunday at Ball State.