Jan. 25, 2015
FINAL RESULTS
CHICAGO - The UIC women's gymnastics team topped fellow MIC-member Illinois State Sunday afternoon at the UIC Pavilion (191.375-188.600). The Flames earned a season-high team score in their first conference meet of the year.
"It was a really exciting day being able to come up with a win against a conference opponent," head coach Peter Jansson said. "At the same time we are also looking at scores and how we can keep building, so this was a good step forward."
UIC started strong on vault, where seniors Kimberly Randall (9.875) and Gabrielle May (9.800) both tied their career-best scores while placing first and second, respectively. The Flames tallied their best event score of the afternoon on vault, outscoring the Redbirds by a margin of 48.425-48.075.
Senior Citlali Cuevas joined Randall at the top of the leaderboard in UIC's next rotation, as the two tied for first place on bars with a score of 9.725. May placed third with a 9.675 while the Flames bested ISU 48.075-46.600 in the event.
May was once again UIC's top finisher as the Flames moved on to beam. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, native took home third place with a score of 9.700. May was followed by teammates Riley Cholod in fourth (9.650) and Citlali Cuevas in fifth (9.625).
UIC commanded the top three spots on the floor exercise, the team's second event sweep on the day. May and Randall were once again on top, with May taking first (9.750) and Randall tying with teammate Nikki Woodruff for second (9.575).
Aside from beam, the Flames placed first and second in each event including the all-around competition.
May was the top all-around finisher with a final score of 38.925. Cuevas took home second place with a score of 37.875, while Woodruff took third with a score of 37.200.
"I am very proud of several of the personal performances today," Jansson continued. "Randall and May both earning top individual scores on vault and taking the top three spots on bars was great to see. We are getting very close to where we want to be at this time of the year."
UIC will hit the road next weekend to reface Illinois State along with Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan at next weekend's State of Illinois vs. State of Michigan meet on Saturday, Jan. 31.
