March 18, 2009
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Hey Redbird fans! It's HD (Hannah Deutsch) here to update you about our most recent meet, the Illinois Classic (March 14) held in Chicago and hosted by UIC. The meet was a statewide competition between four Illinois universities, Northern Illinois, Illinois-Chicago, Illinois and of course Illinois State.
The meet was our final trip of the season and we went there and back on the same day. Before the meet, we had the opportunity to stop by our senior co-captain, Mary Hankosky's , house. We had a wonderful lunch with yummy food. Thanks Mr. and Mrs. Hankosky!
After lunch we were off to UIC for the meet. It felt like we were just there, even though it was about two weeks ago that we took on UIC in a dual meet (Feb. 28). When we arrived we were ready to take care of business, and that we did! We started on floor, which is one of our favorite events to start on.
Emily Matko started us off with an awesome routine just like she always does. Next, Stacie Morris, stepped in at the last minute and gave us another great routine. Third up was Robin Weissman, whose birthday was Saturday, gave another star effort with extra high tumbling. Erica Schick performed an amazing routine while smiling to the audience and judges the whole time. I kept the ball rolling with another hit routine. Meaghan Koshman was last but definitely not least, she put the exclamation point on our floor routines. We were off to a great start and couldn't wait to get to our next event.
Vault was our second event. Everyone looked great in warm-ups and for the second time, we made six-of-six vaults.
Meaghan Koshman placed third overall with a score of 9.8.
PREVIOUS ISU GYMNASTICS BLOGS
Gymnastics Blog #8 | Competing in the Sooner State
Gymnastics Blog #7 | Koshman Dishes on Senior Night
Gymnastics Blog #6 | Meyer on the Thrill of Victory
Gymnastics Blog #5 | Californication
Gymnastics Blog #4 | Matko Describes the Redbirds' First Victory
Gymnastics Blog #3 | Hankosky Recaps the 'Birds Thrid Meet
Gymnastics Blog #2 | Weissman Talks about First Meet of the Season
Gymnastics Blog #1 | Mulchek & Redbirds Host Successful Event
After vault, we were on our way to bars. Stacie Morris started us off with a great routine and stuck her landing. We must have had sticky feet because almost the whole bar line stuck their dismounts. It was amazing!
Our fourth and final event of the night was beam. This was the only event of the night where we made a couple mistakes. Everyone fought through their routines until the very end though. My routine was the last of the evening and I scored a career high of a 9.875! It was a great way to finish the meet.
Since it was the State meet, all of the seniors from each team were honored and received beautiful red flowers. Then, everyone who's GPA was higher than a 3.0 last semester was recognized and received All-State Academic Team certificates.
Even though we came in fourth place, we posted one of our highest scores of the season. We are still fighting through some injuries and illnesses, and with that, everyone did an outstanding job.
We absolutely cannot wait for our conference meet. We are hosting it, and we consider it our "Big Dance" because we get to compete in Redbird Arena instead of Horton Field House. We hope to see all of you Redbird Gymnastics fans there as it is also our last home meet of the season! Saturday, March 21 at 4 p.m. - BE THERE. WEAR READ & BE LOUD!
Go Redbirds!
Hannah Deutsch