On Saturday, April 2, three Southeast Missouri gymnasts will be in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to compete in the NCAA regional competition. Three schools in the Ohio Valley Conference will compete at regionals for a chance to compete in the NCAA National Championship.

The team as a whole did not qualify for regionals, but the top three scorers qualified to compete in as event specialists. The women scored the highest out of all the competitors. Of the three schools in the OVC, Southeast was the only school to have multiple gymnast qualify for the regionals. “It puts our name on a national stage with the best in the country,” Coach Kristi Ewasko said.

The young women who qualified for event specialists at regionals include sophomore Alexis Brawner (Lou) from Detroit, who will compete in the all-around.

Senior Lauren Israel of Blue Springs, Missouri, also will compete in the all-around against the University of Kentucky as with all the girls Nationals is the goal of this competition. Florida native and sophomore McKenzie Jones from will be doing her floor exercises and will be competing with Bollinger. Jones said, “making it to regionals had been one of her main goals for the season.”

Brawner posted 9.70 or higher 39 times during the season’s 13 meets. Her season high scores in each rotation included: 9.825 on bars 9.725 on beam; 9.875 on floor; and 9.875 on vault. or higher 39 times during the season’s 13 meets. At the conference championship, Brawner earned First-Team All-Midwest Independence Conference on every event except beam. Along with all the accolades, she also became Athlete of the Year of the 2016 season.

Israel collected 26 scores of 9.70 or better, all while nursing a broken leg. Despite her recent injury, Israel pushed through and came out on top as one of the leading contenders. During her three-year career she has won eight event titles. Even though this will be her last year, the intensity she competed with is evident through her scores including third place in all-arounders with a score of 38.780. Israel earned her way to regionals by posting scores of 9.830 on bars and 9.790 on beam.

Jones came in as a walk on, meaning she did not have a scholarship,but her results showed she came to compete. She won eight event titles and had 22 scores of 9.70 or better. Jones led the floor exercise with a score of 9.855 and ended the beams in fifth with a score of 9.750. For Jones, the conference championship became memorable when she earned First-Team All-MIC on floor and was awarded second-team honors on all-around and beam.

“We are excited for these three to represent Southeast on such a big stage,” Ewasko said. “They have made it through round one of qualification and look forward to them fighting for a chance to qualify for NCAA Nationals. The University of Alabama will be a great facility and awesome atmosphere for them to have a lot of fun and give it everything they have. I’m looking forward to coaching them through this next stage of their careers.”