Normal, Ill. - The Centenary gymnastics team will compete in the 2021 Midwest Independent Conference Championship on Friday with the meet set for a 3 p.m. start at Redbird Arena.
Live stats and live video will be available for the meet at the links below:
Stats: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=345609
Video: https://www.espn.com/watch/player?id=1b2df59f-f6ab-472c-a98d-50de8f5ff09a
Check out all of the complete meet info here: http://ow.ly/wd0U50E2TJK
The Ladies will compete against host Illinois State, Lindenwood, Southeast Missouri State and Texas Woman's University for the annual championship. Anticipation is high for Friday's meet after the onset of COVID-19 caused last year's edition to be cancelled. Centenary finished fifth in the 2019 event held at the Gold Dome.
Centenary posted a season-best team score of 193.000 last Friday at home as the Ladies placed second to the TWU in a conference dual meet on Senior Night at the Gold Dome. The Ladies, competing in their final meet of the regular season, recorded their best overall score in a meet since March 8, 2019 when they finished with an even 192.00 in the Rutgers Quad Meet.
The Ladies will enter Friday's championship ranked 53rd in the country in the latest Road to Nationals rankings, and are the highest ranked division III team in the country. Centenary posted season-best scores on bars (48.225) and beam (48.575) and its second-best score on vault (48.175) and scored a 47.325 on floor.
Ladies' Junior All-American Kendall Sanders (Spring Branch, Texas) won the all-around competition with a new career-high score of 38.825. She set a pair of new career high marks on vault (9.800) and bars (9.675). Sanders finished second on vault, seventh on floor, eighth on beam, and tied for eighth on bars.
The Ladies were superb on beam Friday night as junior Kendall Knaps (Prairieville, La.) placed third with a new career-high 9.775 and senior Jerrica Harris (Memphis, Tenn.) set a new career-high with a 9.725 to place sixth. Freshman Rylie Molina (Moss Bluff, La.) also set a new career high as she earned a 9.650 to tie for ninth place with her teammate, sophomore Kennedy Stephens (Bella Vista, Ark.) whose 9.650 was also a new career-high mark.
Harris recorded another career best on floor as she finished fourth with a 9.750. Sophomore Kendall Huff (Riviera, Texas) set a career best mark (9.550) to place eighth. Senior Sierra Ponder (Stone Mountain, Ga.) set a new career high on vault with a 9.575 to finish in a tie for ninth place.
Freshman Isabel Plaza (San Antonio, Texas) set a career-high mark with a 9.525 to finish 12th. Ponder had the Ladies' top finish on bars as she set a new career high with a 9.750 to tie for sixth. Knaps tied her season-best score (9.765) to tie for eighth with teammates Sanders and junior Xian Baumgartner (Albuquerque, N.M.) who each tied their season-best marks.
A closer look at the Ladies' four opponents for Friday's meet:
Illinois State Notes:
• The Redbirds head into the MIC Championships with the highest team National Qualifying Score (NQS) in the conference at 195.194. ISU is currently ranked No. 43 in the country, just ahead of Lindenwood which comes in at No. 44 overall.
• ISU has also posted the highest meet score in the conference this season of 195.725, when they came in second place behind No. 25 ranked Central Michigan in a quad meet at Redbird Arena on March 7.
Lindenwood Notes:
• Lindenwood heads into the MIC Championships on a high note, after posting a season-high team score of 195.375 in their meet last Friday.
• That moved the Lions up to No. 44 overall in the country with a team NQS of 48.975, which ranks second in the MIC just behind Illinois State.
Southeast Missouri State Notes:
• SEMO has posted a team-score of 193 or higher in five competitions in 2021 and concluded the regular-season with four straight meets of 194 or higher.
• The Redhawks wrapped up the regular-season with a season-best team score of 195.150 on March 12.
Texas Woman's Notes:
• The Pioneers turned in their best performance of the season the last time out against Centenary, with a 49.050 on floor – TWU's highest mark since a quad last season against Arkansas, Centenary, and LSU; and a 49.000 on beam – the highest score in the event for the Pioneers since TWU captured the 2018 USAG National Championship.
• Freshman Madeline Gose has been one of the most consistent performers for TWU all season, competing in 27 events across nine meets and exceeding a 9.7 score in all but three.
Centenary's complete 2021 schedule can be found here: https://www.gocentenary.com/sports/gymnastics/2020-21/schedule.
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