Illinois State at Lindenwood

Recap 

The Big Storyline: Illinois State came away with its second win against conference foe Lindenwood this weekend. Alana Laster and Angelica Labat both came up with stuck Yurchenko one and a halves again to earn the top two scores on the event. The floor team is finally hitting its stride led by the consistency of freshman Jaye Mack. The Redbirds avoided counting a fall on bars and pushed through a slightly wobbly beam rotation to take the victory. Lindenwood fell behind in the second rotation after being forced to count a fall on bars and never fully recovered. The Lions counted a few too many 9.6s to post a total that approached 195. 

Implications: Illinois State will continue to lead the conference rankings after posting two 195-plus scores this weekend. The Redbirds’ vault and floor teams are leading the way right now with some room for growth on bars and beam. However, Illinois State seems to have its general lineups set in stone. The top six should continue to improve through post season. Lindenwood will continue to lead the USAG standings for the time being. However, it is beginning to back itself into a corner with several 194 scores. The next score to drop is a 193.625. The Lions will need to pick the pace back up to fend off the surging TWU Pioneers. 

Records: Madison Rush tied her beam career high with a 9.800 while Jaye Mack tied her floor career high of 9.900. 

Controversies: The bars broke during warm ups, so the competition got off to a late start. The good news is that the Redbirds had plenty of time to play tag while waiting for the equipment to be fixed.