Feb. 24, 2008

Results

Iowa City, Iowa - The No. 21 Fighting Illini Women's Gymnastics team took third with a score of 194.150 in a triangular meet Sunday afternoon in Iowa City. Iowa won the competition with season-high a score of 195.575 and Michigan State placed second with a 194.875.

The Illini struggled in their first event of the day on beam (48.450) leading to an early disadvantage after the first rotation. The Illini then moved to floor (48.550), followed by vault where they took a 48.425. Illinois finished the day on bars, posting their second-best score of the season of 48.725. "We had some better performances today and some much better landings, but we ran into some major deductions that really hurt our team score," head coach Bob Starkell said. "However, I saw many improvements overall and we look forward to making some adjustments to help us next weekend."

Freshman Allison Buckley led the Illini with a season-best all-around score of 39.225 to take second in the event behind Iowa's Jenifer Simbhudas (39.275). Buckley also took second place on vault (9.825) and floor (9.875), as well as tying for fourth on beam (9.825). Sophomore Sarah Schmidt tied for fourth on bars with a 9.775 and Nicole Cowart had four solid routines giving her an all-around score of 38.975.

"Allison (Buckley) and Nicole (Cowart) had very good meets today," Starkell said. "Nicole looked good on all four events and I was very pleased with Allison's routines, especially on bars. Bars has been her nemesis this year, but I was very happy with today's performance on the road and in the final rotation."

Other top performances on the day were senior Krystal Melcarek's 9.750 on bars and freshman Lashlee Morris's career-high 9.800 on beam. The Illini were without junior Marijka Botterman who was held out after experiencing knee pain and swelling following a treadmill session on Saturday.

The Illini will travel to Auburn next Friday, Feb. 29 to take on the Tigers at 7 p.m. at the Beard-Eaves Memorial Coliseum.

- ILLINI -