Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team jumps into season hosting Lindenwood

Southeast Missouri State gymnastics coach Kristi Ewasko answers with an emphatic, "Absolutely," when asked if the goal remains to have the Redhawks' team qualify for an NCAA regional rather than individuals.

That goal hasn't changed, and Ewasko's confidence that her team can do it hasn't changed.

But it's the change in the mindset of the gymnasts this year that's got Ewasko excited heading into the 2016 season, which kicks off tonight hosting Lindenwood.

Ewasko said that some years she'd hear gymnasts utter the words, "We're not good enough to go to regionals," and know their belief in themselves was gone. The Redhawks haven't had a team qualify for regionals since 2008, but have had an individual advance each year in that time span.

"That has yet to be said this year and I know this team, we talked earlier this week about what it was going to take to get our team to the regional championship," Ewasko said. "They've also changed the rules, so not as many individual all-arounders are going to go, and ... if those rules had been in place the past few years, we would not have had individuals at regionals, so it's even more pertinent that these athletes pay attention to getting our team to regionals, and I think now that they really know that and believe that, the chance this year is higher than we have been in the past."

This year only three individuals not on a qualifying team will qualify for the all-around competition at regionals, which is down from five. Ewasko said her athletes have held that fourth or fifth qualifying spot for many years.

There could be a possibility for more event specialists to qualify since the number of qualifiers has increased to two, but Ewasko doesn't want her athletes' focus to be on that.

Junior Ashley Thomas finished tied for ninth in the all-around in an NCAA regional last year, and junior Alyssa Tucker finished sixth in the all-around at regionals the year before.

Thomas sees no reason why the Redhawks can't have a strong enough season to qualify

"I think with Tucker and I both being there as individuals we can come back and say, 'This is what the teams are doing that make it,'" Thomas said. "And it's easy to see when you do go to regionals like we have the same exact routines as other teams that make it, we just need to make ours cleaner. We're up to their level, we just have to believe that we can perform at that level, and I think if we can do that and we can believe in each other, then we'll be great."

Ewasko's been impressed with Thomas, who joined the team as a walk-on two years ago before earning a scholarship for her sophomore season, and her progress throughout the offseason and preseason.

"Then to think, 'OK, now she's reached that. She's got the scholarship, she's been to regionals. What more is there?' Ashley trained this summer and has learned brand-new skills and so it's just awesome to see her continue to want to grow," Ewasko said. "It's her drive to learn new skills, upgrade her routines, perfect the skill she has ,and you'll see that again this year. She's a vocal leader on this team. If she struggles, she does not take that lightly. She holds herself to very high expectations and has really taken the time to continue to grow and continue to learn. She's an amazing kid to coach and an amazing kid to be around."

Tucker's sophomore season was cut short by a stress fracture in her heel. She competed in the first seven meets of the season before suffering the injury, setting career highs in three events and the all-around and was named the Midwest Independent Conference Gymnast of the Week twice in the first half of the season. Going into the new season, she says the injury is not hindering her.

"I just feel good," Tucker said. "Ready to go."

Ewasko expects Tucker to take on more of a leadership role with this year's team, which is sophomore and junior heavy. There are three freshmen, six sophomores, five juniors and lone senior Taylor Penzien.

"She just has a different maturity about her this year that has really started to shine," Ewasko said of Tucker. "As a teammate I believe last year, and her freshman year even, it was, 'I'm Tucker, I'm going to be Tucker and I'm just going to do my own thing,' whereas this year I believe she's stepped in when a teammate has struggled. We've seen her go over to talk to them and encourage them and try to help them work through that. She's got a little bit different light on her, but the talent is still there and she's going to be an amazing leader for this team."

Ewasko is prepared to see vault scores drop this season due to a change in start values and has tried to get her team to understand the importance of stepping up on the other three events -- uneven bars, balance beam and floor -- to build up total scores.

"The team has done great with that on our intrasquads," Ewasko said. "Then obviously our past few years beam has been our nemesis, but it hasn't been in our intrasquads, and that's something that's been great to see. We had an intrasquad on Sunday and it was our highest scoring event, so I think that's something that's really exciting for this team, and that's going to be that confidence that I want them to carry into this weekend and then continue to carry is understanding they are a really strong beam team. Bars was really strong last year, as was floor, and I think you'll continue to see those hold strong, but really looking for beam to jump on board this year to build up our scores from vault that we won't have."

Tonight's meet is one of five home meets for the Redhawks, who will host the MIC Championships to close out the regular season March 19. Southeast also hosts Wisconsin-Whitewater (Jan. 29), Illinois State (Feb. 19) and Centenary (March 5).

"Our focus this weekend is just building confidence," Ewasko said. "We've had some really good intrasquads -- actually, some of the best intrasquads during preseason that we've had since I've been here -- and so we want to continue to build on that and make sure that when we start the season we don't all of a sudden completely change. Let's remember what we've done, what they've built up. So we're really looking this weekend to go into the meet and build confidence heading into the season. As we start to build confidence we're going to build consistency, which ultimately builds our score, and that's what we want to accomplish in these next couple of meets."

Southeast will compete against Air Force, Pittsburgh and Iowa State in the Ozone Classic in Knoxville, Tennessee, on March 16 and then remains on the road for a meet at Texas Woman's University with Air Force and Centenary on Jan. 24. The Redhawks also have meets at Missouri, Bowling Green, Air Force, Denver and Eastern Michigan.

"Just staying focused, doing what you normally do in practice. Don't change anything," Tucker said of what the team's focus is to start the season. "In practice we're working on a lot of sticks and form, so we will see how that shows up when we compete."