March 14, 2007

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Tuesday, March 13, 2007) The Southeast Redhawks defeated the Redbirds of Illinois State 192.400-190.600 in front of a crowd of almost 500 for their last home game of the season.

The Redhawks (13-5, 7-1 MIC) showed great toughness as they fought through this meet after competing only three days ago in Denton, Texas.

"We looked a little tired," said head coach Tom Farden. "But we did some good things."

The "good things" that Southeast accomplished was taking home two individual titles (bars, all-around) and three team titles (vault, bars, and floor).

The Redhawk's Rikara Turner (Hastings, Minn./Twin City Twisters) missed first place on the vault by a tenth of a point as she scored a 9.650. She was followed closely by teammates Sandra Blake (Tri-Cities, Wash./Mid-Columbia) and Amber Garlotte (Lee's Summit, Mo./Eagles Gymnastics), who tied for third with a 9.625.

Southeast moved to the bars and tallied a 48.500 with freshman Bryanna Wong's (Parkville, Mo./Edge Gymnastics) career-high 9.775 good enough for the win. Wong was followed closely by teammate Maureen Grimaldi (Kansas City, Mo./Edge Gymnastics) who finished with a second place 9.750.

On the balance beam, the Redhawks had to count a fall which dropped their score below 48.000, on the beam, for the first time since Feb. 2nd against UW-LaCrosse. A bright spot on the beam was a fourth place finish by junior Alison Ezell as she recorded a season-high 9.675.

The gymnasts finished up the evening on the floor as they earned a 48.275 and were led again by Wong with a 9.750.

The two Redhawks to finish the all-around, Wong and Turner, took first and second respectively with it being the first all-around title in Wong's career.

On Saturday, Mar. 17th, the Redhawks will be competing against the Centenary College Ladies in Shreveport, La. The meet will have a start time of 4:00p.m.