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CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. – The Redhawks return to Houck Field House to take on Midwest Independent Conference foe Illinois State on Friday night at 6:30 p.m. Southeast has seen its score drop in three-straight meets, but still sits second in the MIC with a 192.470 average point total. Friday's dual meet will be Southeast's sixth meet of the season, which will provide its first Regional Qualifying Score of the season. A season-high on Friday will give the Redhawks an RQS that matches their average score for the year.

Promotion – Friday night is the gymnastics team's Pink Up Night, sponsored by Saint Francis Medical Center. Fans are encouraged to join the Redhawks' fight against breast cancer by wearing pink to the meet. All fans wearing pink will enjoy free popcorn and “Dig for Life” pink foam spirit sticks. Cancer survivors, along with their guests, receive free admission to the meet and will be honored during the competition for their courageous fight. The Redhawks will be signing autographs on a special edition Pink Up Night poster after the meet.

Last Week – Untimely falls led to a depressed point total during Southeast's road trip over the past weekend. The Redhawks counted their first fall of the year, an 8.850 on bars in the first rotation, which dropped their total to 192.350 at BYU last Friday. Southeast appeared on track for a season-high performance at No. 16 Boise State on Sunday, but the Redhawks counted three scores of 9.150 or lower in the final rotation on beam to finish with a season-low 191.325 instead. Taryn Vanderpool finished second in the all-around at both meets and posted three scores of 9.800 or better.  

About Illinois State – The Redbirds are the defending MIC Champions and scored 191.125 last week, their second-worst total of the year, at the Chicago Style Tournament. A week before that, ISU put up a season-high 194.100 at the Illinois/Michigan meet. ISU gymnasts rank in the national top 100 in four events, with Sami King's No. 59 beam average (9.785) being the highest.

First Touch

Where They Stand – The Redhawks' average score five meets into the year is 192.470, which is 51st in the country. The top 36 teams in the final rankings automatically qualify for the various NCAA Regional Championship meets as a team. Entering competition this week, Eastern Michigan holds the final team spot with an average score of 193.800.

What it Means – After this week, Southeast will have its first Regional Qualifying Score of the season, which is the number used to rank all the teams in the country. The RQS takes a snapshot of each team's best six scores on the year, then drops the highest score and averages the other five to come up with the figure. Only three of those scores can come in home meets. As it pertains to the Redhawks, they have six meets remaining and will need to break their present season best of 193.700 in at least five of those meets to adequately improve their RQS and shoot up into the top 36 to qualify for regionals as a team.

Impact Freshman – While 11 of Southeast's 13 gymnasts were on the roster last year, the team is getting a lift from one of its freshmen already this season. Taylor Penzien cracked the lineup in at least two events for each of the first five meets. She has competed in three events or more four times and made her all-around debut at Northern Illinois on Feb. 2. The freshman responded by scoring 38.350, led by a 9.750 on floor, that evening. Penzien has tallied five scores of 9.700 or higher this season, all of which have come in the last four meets.

Vanderpool's Big Start – Junior Taryn Vanderpool has emerged as a top gymnast for the Redhawks this season. After battling injuries for her first two seasons, Vanderpool has stayed in the lineup to compete in the all-around in all five meets this year. She has either won the all-around or finished second in the competition in all five meets and leads the Redhawks with 12 scores of 9.700 or higher this season, something she did 13 total times in her first two seasons. Five of Vanderpool's scores this year have been 9.800 or higher and she has either set or tied career-highs on vault (9.750), beam (9.850) and all-around (38.950) this season.