Three Southeast Missouri State gymnasts exceeding expectations heading into NCAA Regionals

The expectations that Southeast Missouri State gymnastics coach Kristi Ewasko had for Alexis Brawner, Lauren Israel and McKinzie Jones before their season started in January varied.

Brawner had been recruited for her overall skills and was expected to be a strong all-around competitor, but Ewasko and her staff were uncertain if her sophomore year would be the year she'd put it all together.

Israel continuously had been told she wouldn't be able to compete in vault due to injury, which would keep her out of the all-around as she concluded her Southeast career.

Jones joined the team as a walk-on freshman and was known to be extremely talented on balance beam. Her floor routine was strong, but Ewasko was uncertain how it would develop throughout the season.

Each exceeded the expectations by qualifying for the NCAA Regionals -- Brawner and Israel in the all-around and Jones in the floor exercise -- where they'll compete in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on Saturday with an NCAA National Championship berth on the line. It's the first trip to regionals for all three.

"This is a huge experience for them," Ewasko said. "They've worked hard, they've all had some ups and downs throughout the season here and there, but they've put it together here when they needed to qualify to regionals. It's a huge opportunity on a national stage for Southeast to be represented, and honestly for Southeast to be represented by three extremely talented athletes."

---

Southeast gymnast Alexis Brawner poses for a photo, Wednesday, March 30, 2016.Laura Simon

Brawner, who credited her success this season to a new-found confidence from the training she put in over the summer, just wanted to make it into the Redhawks' all-around lineup this season.

She competed in vault and beam as a freshman and once on bars at the Midwest Independent Conference Championship meet.

Ewasko recalled the uneven bars were Brawner's weakness when they recruited her and that she "wasn't a fan of bars at all," but as her freshman campaign went on she said that Brawner's perspective changed on the event thanks to assistant coach Chris Bogantes.

"That was kind of that final piece of the puzzle for her," Ewasko said. "We knew she would be strong. We weren't sure regional-caliber or not, but she proved to be a competitor for us and so it worked out really well on both sides."

Brawner was named the MIC's Gymnast of the Year after her breakout sophomore season and had the top regional qualifying score for an individual all-around competitor in the Tuscaloosa Regional with a 38.945.

"Some of that confidence and what not comes across in her personality as a little bit of stubbornness and sometimes a cockiness, but she doesn't use it negatively in the sense of her gymnastics," Ewasko said. "She uses it to create a presence of, 'I'm here. Watch me.'"

That attitude shines through from time to time during practice.

The Redhawks' practice assignments are performance-based, so if there's a fall or major mistake during a routine, the gymnast has to do extra turns to try and fix the issue.

"Well, she hates that. She can't stand it," Ewasko said with a laugh. "She'll get a look on her face. What's interesting is I've had to learn with Alexis it's not a disrespectful action, it's just a frustrated, stubborn action like she didn't want to have to do extra turns but she knows she's going to have to if she has those mistakes."

Brawner's become more focused on her routines because of it, but hasn't allowed that to make her tense up.

"I think I'm more relaxed," Brawner said. "I used to always try to be, like, perfect, but now it's just kind of like I know how to do my skills, I just need to go out there and do it."

---

Southeast gymnast Lauren Israel poses for a photo, Wednesday, March 30, 2016.Laura Simon

Since her freshman year Israel had been limited in what she could do.

An elbow injury kept her out of vault that year, and she couldn't quite master a different vault skill last season, so Ewasko finally told her that she planned to have her stop training in the event for this year.

Israel had other plans.

She spent the summer training on vault in secret, and when she arrived back on campus was able to say to her coach, "Watch what I learned."

"Her vault has a front entry, and typically with this new table a lot of gymnasts steered away from a front entry," Ewasko said. " Â… Because of the shape of the new vault it is challenging for front entry vaults to have a good, strong, aggressive flip and rotation off of it, but we worked with Lauren a lot. We started this last summer and really worked drills and technique work and positions and things like that, and she really excelled in that area so we went with it."

During preseason intrasquad scrimmages Israel competed in vault as an alternate, and she was told that they'd probably stop her on it closer to the season. Ewasko knew she needed her on bars, beam and floor and didn't want her to risk being pulled off one of those if the vault irritated any injuries, including a stress fracture in her tibia that she's battled through this season.

But as injuries to some of her teammates began piling up prior to and in the first few weeks of the season, Ewasko finally gave in.

"It was like, 'Well, dang, Lauren!'" Ewasko said with a laugh. "She's a 9.8 start value, so it's not technically a 10.0 start-value vault, which is typically what we'd like to see, but it was there. She was getting to her feet safely the majority of the time, it was a pretty clean vault and it's unique, so we thought, 'Well, we need her. We need somebody,' and she was there and ready to go."

Israel, whose junior season will be her last after choosing to move home after her father was diagnosed with cancer, enters the regional with a 38.780 regional qualifying score.

"I was really strong in preseason, and so the first few meets I had fallen a lot and I was getting frustrated," Israel said. "Then I kind of came around in the middle of season and I was like surprising myself, and then at the end it's just a grind. You've just got to pursue until the end."

---

Southeast gymnast McKinzie Jones poses for a photo, Wednesday, March 30, 2016.Laura Simon

Jones first found out about Southeast when she came to a gymnastics camp at the university one summer.

It was a no-brainer for her to become a Redhawk when she was offered a chance to walk on to the team.

Ewasko expected that she was getting an athlete that was "extremely talented" on balance beam, but never imagined that she'd earn a regional berth on floor or that the freshman would be anchoring the team's lineup in the event.

"I did not used to be good on floor, and then my senior year in high school I just started getting a little better at it, and then this year it just clicked, I guess," Jones said. "I just really enjoy it. It's probably my favorite event."

It came down to the wire for Jones, who secured the second of two floor specialist spots in the regional. She and another gymnast had the exact same regional qualifying scores and the first tiebreaker also was tied. It came down to a second score outside those averaged into the RQS, and Jones had a 9.825 to her competitor's 9.800.

"We weren't completely 100 percent sure until they announced it," Ewasko said with a grin.

Jones' effortlessness when it comes to her floor routine and her ability to captivate audiences is what stands out to Ewasko.

"When you watch McKinzie, she makes floor look easy, but what people don't realize is her first pass is what's called a front handspring front double full. It's 'E,' it's one of the hardest valued passes out of floor tumbling," Ewasko said. "It's not a big double back, which you see most athletes do where they do this huge high flip and they do two flips and land, and that's challenging as well, but that's not actually as difficult as the pass she does, so I think that's something that's very special and unique about her. She has a gorgeous dance and flow and just gives a really fluid, easy expression throughout her whole routine. So not only is it difficult tumbling-wise, but it also has a really pretty, artistic look to it. She draws you in to her routine. Â… Not many freshmen have that."

Jones said she's confident, excited and a "little anxious" as she heads into Saturday's competition, but was given some advice from juniors Alyssa Tucker and Ashley Thomas, who have both competed at regionals.

"They were just, like, 'Do what you've been doing all season,'" Jones said. "Like, don't really change anything."

Ewasko hopes that with Tucker and Thomas returning next year, along with Jones and Brawner, and all of their experience at regionals, they'll be able to help guide next year's squad to qualify to regionals as a team, something that hasn't happened for the program since 2008.

"I think just take it all in," Ewasko said about her message to the trio. "We've kept practice pretty typical, pretty normal as much as we can with only three really training. But when we get there, the whole atmosphere is just a huge, awesome experience, and I just want them to be able to take it all in and breathe it all in, enjoy practice day.

"They're going to be welcomed into a team that's not theirs, but they're very welcoming and they'll create a team, teammates, in a sense, for that meet. I just don't want them to go out there and be like, 'Oh my gosh, I have to hit.' It's another meet. You've done your job to get you here. You're prepared. You're ready. Take a deep breath, salute and really just enjoy every aspect of it."