Redhawks defeat Ball State with season-high total

The Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team clicked on virtually all cylinders Thursday night to beat visiting Ball State.

Southeast posted a 195.500-193.100 victory for the third-highest score in school history. The Redhawks, ranked 25th nationally, improved to 8-2.

"We went out and hit 24 out of 24 routines," coach Tom Farden said in a release. "The momentum really built throughout the meet."

Junior Rikara Turner captured her fifth all-around title of the season with a score of 39.150. She edged out teammate Sandra Blake, a senior who was second at 39.100.

Turner also won beam (9.850), while Blake won floor (9.925) to tie for the seventh-best score in program history.

Blake and sophomore teammate Brianna Gaddie tied for first on vault (9.800).

Southeast's other event winner was sophomore Christina Sundgren on bars (9.850).

Blake was second on bars (9.825); Gaddie was second on floor (9.850) and third on beam (9.750); while Turner was third on vault (9.775) and third on floor (9.825).

Rounding out the top-three finishes for the Redhawks was freshman Emily Mann. She placed third on bars (9.800).

Earlier this week, Turner was named the Midwest Independent Conference gymnast of the week, her third such award this season.

Turner was honored after winning the all-around during last week's victory over Illinois State.

NFL promotion

Former Southeast football player and assistant coach Jon Robinson was recently promoted to director of college scouting by the NFL's New England Patriots.

Robinson will enter his eighth season in the Patriots' personnel department, after serving as their assistant director of college scouting in 2008. He joined the Patriots in 2002 as an area scout and served in that position for four seasons. He spent the next two years as a regional scout.

Robinson began his college coaching career in 1998 at Southeast before moving on to coach three seasons at Nicholls (La.) State.

A native of Union City, Tenn., Robinson played for one season at the U.S. Air Force Academy before transferring to Southeast, where he played three seasons on the defensive line from 1995 through 1997.

Track hosts meet

The Southeast track and field program will have its only home meet of the indoor season today when the annual Redhawks Invitational is held at the Student Recreation Center.

Field events begin at 4 p.m., with running events slated to start at 6:30 p.m.

Other squads competing will be Memphis and Murray State, along with several athletes from other colleges. No team scores will be kept.

Today's competition will be Southeast's final tuneup before next weekend's Ohio Valley Conference indoor championships in Charleston, Ill.

Earlier this week, Southeast freshman Josh Sutton was named the OVC male field athlete of the week after high jumping 6-6 3/4 last week at the Hoosier Hills Invitational at Indiana University.

-- From staff reports