Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team finishes third against in-state foes

The Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team had the opportunity to show off how it stacked up against its in-state counterparts -- Missouri and Lindenwood.

The Redhawks hosted the two schools at Houck Field House on Friday night in the inaugural "Battle of Missouri" and instead of putting together a complete performance on all four events, Southeast stumbled on the uneven bars.

Southeast posted a 193.600, which was a season high, but the lowest score of the three teams.

"We came in trying to be excited. It's our first kind of 'Battle of the State of Missouri' competition that we're going to have every year at the three different schools," Southeast coach Kristi Ewasko said. "It was really exciting to see where everyone stood and see how our girls really handled the pressure. ... We've just got to put it together, no matter what meet it is. We've got to put every event together, at the same time, and we haven't done that yet."

Ewasko thought scores were slightly lower than expected on the the vault with a team total of 48.625, but wasn't too displeased.

The Redhawks then struggled on the uneven bars, scoring a season and meet-low 47.550 in the event. Sophomore Alexandria Stokes and freshman McKenna Stanley each had season-low 9.0s on the event. Stokes fell in the middle of her routine and Stanley fell during her landing.

"On bars I thought we kind of got a little hesitant," Ewasko said. "We had a long wait after vault, which is normal, but I noticed our girls started separating a little bit and not really focusing on us. I kind of felt a little anxiety going to bars that I normally don't feel, and it kind of came to be true, which a lot of times my gut is.

"After bars I kind of pulled the team together and said, 'You guys are sitting in cliques, here and there, and it's not molding this team.' They really bonded right then. They came together without the staff, and I really think that's what turned it around for beam. They went to beam and they stood close and cheered loud, and that really got the energy going again. Those are things that we really need to work on and focus on."

Fifth-year senior Erin Brady and junior Taylor Penzien gathered their teammates prior to the balance beam after their coach's message.

"Erin and Taylor just kind of got us in a huddle and they were like, 'We can do this. This is what we came to do. The crowd is here for us, so we need to feed off of their energy and really get it back in,'" sophomore Ashley Thomas said. "They helped out a lot."

Southeast's 48.775 on beam was a new season high. Sophomore Alyssa Tucker won the event with a 9.825 and sophomore Lauren Israel tied for second with a season-high 9.800. Thomas tied for fourth with a season-high 9.775.

"Finally we put beam together, which was what we've known we're capable of doing we just hadn't yet, so I'm really proud of our beam team tonight," Ewasko said. "They turned it around after a rough bar rotation, so I think we really need to just take that and build our confidence from there for that event."

The Redhawks finished off the meet on the floor exercise in which they scored a season-high 48.650. Their previous season high was 48.625 in the season opener.

Ewasko's biggest concern was whether or not Tucker broke her nose after falling forward and hitting her face on the mat near the end of her floor routine. The sophomore, who advanced to regionals last year, scored a season-low 9.125 in the event and a season-low 38.275 in the all-around competition.

Thomas scored a career-high 39.025 in the all-around, which was good for third place.

"This week I was really proud of Ashley Thomas," Ewasko said. "She went over 39 in the all-around, which that's probably close to her career-high, if she's ever gone that high, so I'm really pleased with her, and that came after being sick all week. She really stepped up tonight for her team and hit when we really needed to, as crappy as she was feeling. I'm really proud of her that she worked through that and did it for her team."

The Redhawks travel to Normal, Illinois, next Friday to face Illinois State.

"We just need to have strong events all on the same day, not just sporadically," Thomas said. "Because once we can put it all together and have strong events on that one day, we'll get the 195 that we're looking for."