The Redbirds began their season on Saturday, January 8th in a home meet against Southeast Missouri State University, one of our rivals in the Midwest Independent Conference. The Redbirds competed for a combined total score of 191.500 and defeated the Redhawks, who finished with a final score of 190.275.
The gymnasts began on vault. Their lead-off competitor, Marissa Stom, score a 9.575. Following her, Kim Genereux and Apollonia Barrientos also both scored a 9.575. Needless to say, the Redbirds started out rather consistently. Erica Schick competed next and scored a 9.600. The last two competitors, Jenna Bossle and Tori Sarantakis, who both compete one of the most difficult vaults in collegiate gymnastics, scored a 9.6500 and a 9.725 respectively. Tori Sarantakis placed first on the event with her score while Jenna Bossle placed third behind Emma Garrett of Southeast Missouri State University. The team competed for a combined vault score of 48.125.
Next up, the Redbirds moved to bars. The lead-off competitor, Tori Sarantakis, started off with a score of a 9.000. Jenna Bossle was up next and scored an 8.350 after falling on her release move. Apollonia Barrientos competed on her second event of the day, scoring a 9.700. Kim Genereux followed, scoring a 9.650 and Kim Caron scored a 9.675. The final competitor, Erica Schick, scored a 9.500. Overall, the Birds had a total uneven bar score of 47.525, a score a little bit lower than they’re used to. Barrientos placed third with her score of a 9.700 and after two events, the Birds had a running total of 95.650.
The third event, beam, is one that makes or breaks a competition. Marissa Stom started off on her second even of the day with a 9.625. Tori Sarantakis and Kim Genereux, both on their third event for the day, scored a 9.125 and 8.825. Erica Schick was fourth up on beam and scored a 9.500. Melissa Mann was fifth up and scored a 9.700, while Hannah Deutsch anchored with a score of 9.800. Deutsch and Mann took second and third, respectively, behind Taylor Westrick of SEMO who scored a 9.850. Despite some struggling on beam, the Redbirds maintained their lead with a total of 47.750 on beam and a running score of 143.400.
The Birds finished on the floor exercise. Hannah Meyer led off with a 9.500 and tied with Kim Genereux, who competed third on the event. Melissa Mann, in the second position, scored a 9.450. Apollonia Barrientos competed fourth, scoring a 9.675 and Hannah Deutsch competed sixth with a score of a 9.700. Erica Schick, last up on floor, scored a 9.725. Erica placed second on the event and Hannah placed third, behind Brianna Gaddie from SEMO; she scored a 9.750. The Redbirds floor score totaled to a 48.100.
Erica Schick and Kim Genereux both competed in the all-around. Erica placed first with a total score of 38.325 and Kim took second with a 37.550. Head coach Bob Conkling was happy with the overall performance of the gymnasts, “It’s not just the coaches that have high expectations for this year, but the student-athletes as well. They want to be in the top 36 in the country and I believe they are totally capable of doing that,” he said, quoted from GoRedbirds.com.
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