at Northern Illinois, March 12th, 2011

The Redbirds went on the road again to Northern Illinois University for the State of Illinois Class in a battle against all of the state of Illinois gymnastics teams. The competitive teams included Illinois State University, Northern Illinois University, University of Illinois and University of Illinois-Chicago, the one member of ISU’s conference that also competed in this competition.
The team began on the uneven bars where they did well. Tori Sarantakis led off the event and tied with Emily Matko who went second, scoring a 9.575. Chelsie Seplowin went third and fell, scoring a 9.30. Jenna Bossle went fourth and scored a 9.675 and Apollonia Barrientos followed, scoring a 9.775. Unfortunately absent from the event was Kim Genereux, who was out from the entire competition because of a sprained ankle she suffered the week before. Erica Schick rounded off the event, scoring a 9.800.
The girls moved to the balance beam next where Apollonia Barrientos started off. Her and Jenna Bossle had slightly wobbly routines and scored a 9.425 and 9.5, respectively. Stacie Morris went next and fell, scoring a 9.150 and Erica Schick, who also fell, scored a 9.25. Erica was taken out for the rest of the meet because she bruised her heels on her uneven bar routine. Melissa Mann went fifth and scored a 9.75 and Hannah Deutsch finished off the event with a 9.825.
Next, the competition moved to the floor exercise. Hannah Meyer fell on one her floor passes and scored an 8.90. Emily Matko followed, scoring a 9.375 and Marissa Stom went third, and after stepping out of bounds, scored a 9.30. Apollonia Barrientos was up next and scored a 9.750 and Hannah Deutsch went fifth, scoring a 9.725. Stacie Morris went last, in place of Erica and scored a 9.60.
Finally, the gymnasts moved to the vault. Marissa Stom went first and scored a 9.75, tying with Jenna Bossle who went fourth. Hannah Deutsch scored a 9.70, who posted the same score as Tori Sarantakis. Apollonia Barrientos went third and scored a 9.50 after a few uncharacteristic steps out of her vault and Elise Gray had the high score of the night for the Redbirds, scoring a 9.85.
Unfortunately, the Redbirds did not fare well in the standings, placing fourth with a 192.650. In third place was Illinois-Chicago who scored a 193.325, and in second was Northern Illinois who tallied a team total of 194.025. University of Illinois took first place with a score of 196.975.