March 21, 2007

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. - (Wednesday, March 21, 2007) The No. 36 Southeast Missouri State Redhawks will head to Fayetteville, Ark. on Friday, March 23 as they face the No. 12 Arkansas Razorbacks, the No. 18 Missouri Tigers and the No. 51 Texas Woman's University Pioneers. All four teams will be laying it on the line as this meet will be one of the last two chances to build on their Regional Qualifying Scores.

The Redhawks (14-5, 8-1 MIC) are on top of their game as two of their last three performances have exceeded the 194 mark, which had been unreachable in the early part of the season. Freshman Rikara Turner (Hastings, Minn./Twin City Twisters) is a dominant force for this team as she is coming off a week in which she won her fourth career all-around title and earned her second Midwest Independent Conference Gymnast of the Week Award. Another freshman, Bryanna Wong (Parkville, Mo./Edge Gymnastics), has also been solid for the team and won her first career all-around against the Illinois State Redbirds on March 13.

The Razorbacks (9-10) are really excelling this season and have an exceptional freshman in gymnast Casey Jo Magee who is No. 11 nationally on the balance beam. Arkansas defeated the Redhawks last year in the South Central Regional.

The Tigers (11-6) are coming off an impressive upset of the No. 11 Michigan Wolverines as sophomore standout Adrianne Perry took home the all-around title. Missouri has defeated the Redhawks once this season at a dual meet in Columbia, Mo.

The Pioneers (9-11) have split two games with Southeast this season and are looking to rebound after a tough loss in Arizona. Senior Courtney Arno and junior Nicole Poling continue to lead the way for TWU.

Arkansas will provide free live stats and a live video feed of the event at www.ladybacks.com.