Jan. 31, 2008

By Matthew C. Worthington, Gymnastics Contact

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - The Southeast Missouri State University Redhawks (2-0, 1-0 OVC) will host The University of Iowa in a dual meet Saturday, February 2nd with a start time of 2:00 p.m.

The Redhawks are coming off an explosive start to the season after defeating the University of Kentucky and the Illinois State Redbirds. The Redhawk's high scores have moved them into the top 25 in the nation and first in the Midwest Independent Conference. Along with the high ranking, junior gymnast Sandra Blake (Tri-Cities, Wash./Mid Columbia) was named the MIC Gymnast of the Week.

On the vault, the Redhawks have four gymnasts ranked in the MIC top 10; third-Sandra Blake (Tri-Cities, Wash./Mid Columbia), fifth-Rikara Turner (Hastings, Minn./Twin City Twisters), sixth-Amber Garlotte (Lee's Summit, Mo./Eagle Gymnastics) and eighth-Starlyn Schwartz (Pensacola, Fla./First City Gymnastics). Southeast's only individual vault title came from freshman Brianna Gaddie (East Grand Forks, Minn./Red River Valley) as she scored a 9.850 and shared the title with an Illinois State gymnast.

On bars, Southeast is led by freshman Lauren Dinan (Doniphan, Neb./Nebraska Twisters) who is currently third in the MIC. Blake and Turner are also in the MIC top 10 landing at sixth and seventh, respectively. Dinan and Jacqueline Heath (St. Cloud Minn./St. Cloud Technical) shared the first title for the Redhawks on bars as they scored a 9.775 against Illinois State.

Jena Nguyen scored a season-high 9.825 on the beam (Photo Courtesy of Patrick Clark)

Southeast has struggled a little on beam and Turner is the only Redhawk ranked in the MIC top 10. Southeast won their first individual title of the season against Illinois State, as sophomore Jena Nguyen (Sioux Falls, S.D./All-American) nailed her beam routine with a season-high 9.825.

The Redhawks have been steady on the floor exercise and have three Redhawks on the MIC top 10 list; second-Turner, fifth-Nguyen and sixth-Garlotte. Gaddie and Turner shared the first individual title of the season against the University of Kentucky and Blake shared the title against Illinois State.

On the all-around, the Redhawks hold the top two spots in the MIC with Blake averaging 38.762 and Turner averaging 38.512. Blake has won the lone all-around title for the Redhawks with an outstanding 38.950 against Illinois State.

Iowa (3-3) is coming off a close loss to the University of Illinois and will be looking to rebound. Leading the way for the Hawkeyes is junior Jennifer Simbhudas. She is currently fourth in the Big Ten Conference on the all-around as she averages a solid 39.017.

In the past five seasons alone, Iowa has reached the NCAA Championships twice as a team and had individual competitors qualify for the Championships. The Hawkeyes are coached by Larissa Libby who has a record of 23-45.

The overall record between Southeast and Iowa is 10-15, with the Redhawks looking to get one step closer to evening the score. Adding to the meet will be the special events of "Girl Power" and "Alumni Night". This marks the fifth year that the Redhawks have teamed up with the Girl Scouts for the Girl Power event, in which the Girl Scouts participate in fun activities with the gymnasts and get to come out and watch the gymnasts perform. Also in attendance will be 14 former Southeast gymnasts and one former coach.