While Illinois State’s gymnastics team was unable to walk away with a win for the weekend, their top performer walked away satisfied.
ISU’s Angelica Labat took home first place in the all-around competition. The reigning Midwest Independent Conference gymnast of the week scored a personal record of 39.400 points between the vault, uneven bars, beam and floor routine.
“Angelica’s a performer she always has been. She loves to compete, she wants to win,” head coach Bob Conkling said. “She wants to be great every turn, every single beat so that pays off in the long run, it just does, so I’m really really happy for her.”
Illinois State gymnastics ended their busy weekend with a second-place finish in a quad meet Sunday afternoon at Redbird Arena.
The Redbirds rebounded with a strong showing after placing third in a tri meet against Northern Illinois and Iowa State Friday night in DeKalb. Conkling said he’s satisfied with the team’s performance this late in the season.
“We’ve been building the last few weeks and we just knew they were capable of these big scores,” Conkling said. “We knew they were capable of hitting on all four events. There was a couple of mistakes here and there but overall, just so much better than we did the last homemade so we’re very happy.”
The Redbirds started on vault in the first rotation where they brought home a team score of 48.925. Labat led the way for ISU with a score of 9.95. Labat went on to place first in the event while Jazmine Neely tied for third.
In the second rotation, the Chippewas went from worst to first with their floor routine. Illinois State took sole possession of second place after a trio of gymnasts scored at least 9.80 points on the uneven bars, including Labat’s second-place score of 9.90.
The Redbirds’ score of 49.025 put them 0.100 of a point away from Central Michigan on the bars. Sofia Iribarren finished in a three-way tie for fourth.
ISU moved to the balance beam looking to take the lead but their struggles in the event cost them. Senior Savannah Remkus started off with a 9.80, which turned out to be the team’s top score in the event. The Redbirds went into their floor routine almost a full point behind the Chippewas. Remkus’ score was good enough to place third on the beam.
The Redbirds literally saved their best event for last as they scored a 49.175 in the floor routine. Senior Cameron Topp tied for the top spot in the event after she earned a career-high 9.925. Mia Quigg placed in a tie for fourth in the event with a score of 9.875. Isabella Decroo and Angelica Labat also earned scores of over 9.8.
“This group did phenomenal on floor,” Conkling said. “They built every single routine and it was exciting and for Cami to hit that routine at the end, I knew it was going to be at least a 9.90 but to have her get the 9.925 and get her career best on senior night was fantastic.”
Illinois State finished the meet in second place with a score of 195.725, less than a point behind Central Michigan. Northern Illinois took home third place and Lindenwood finished in fourth.
Sunday’s meet also honored ISU’s seniors, including Triniti Barron, Remkus and Topp.
Illinois State heads to Cape Girardeau, MO. at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, March 19. They will face Lindenwood for the third time and Southeast Missouri for the fourth time this season.
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