The Southeast Missouri State University gymnastics team has one goal they're striving for this season: qualify to compete as a team at the NCAA Regional Championship.
"We've been focusing on a lot of these little things that will then ultimately increase our scores, which is then what gets us into postseason competition," Southeast gymnastics coach Kristi Ewasko said.
"We've added some more difficulty into our routines. Routines that didn't get added difficulty, we've made more consistent."
Some of the "little things" the team members have focused on are sticking their landings and hitting handstands on the uneven bars.
Ewasko believes the team has the ability to score a team total in the mid-194 to high-195 range in each meet and that those scores could be enough to get to regionals.
"Granted, we can't always control the scores," Ewasko said. "So if our team goes out, we're hitting our routines the best that we have, like we do in training, then that's what we're going to be proud of."
In Division I gymnastics teams are ranked by a regional qualifying score. This score is found by taking each team's six highest scores and averaging the second through fifth highest scores. Only three of these scores can be home meets. The teams are then ranked by their average, and the top 36 teams automatically receive a bid to an NCAA regional championship.
Since the program moved to Division I, Southeast has competed at regionals six times: in 1992, 1993, 1995, 1997, 2006 and 2008.
Two Southeast gymnasts competed at the regional level last season in individual events. Senior Taylor Westrick competed on balance beam and junior Megan Fosnow competed in the all-around.
Westrick scored a career-high 9.900 on balance beam, which gave her the opportunity to compete at the NCAA Women's Gymnastic Championship in Duluth, Ga. She is the only Southeast gymnast that has competed at the championship since Southeast moved to Division I in 1992. She scored a 9.850 on the balance beam and finished 28th out of 85 gymnasts.
"I'm going into this year not really thinking about my expectations towards postseason, but more of, 'I need to go up there and do all that I can do and do my best on each event so that our team can get further this year,'" Westrick said. "So that our team can actually go to regionals this year, and I'm focusing more on putting it toward the team aspect."
Ewasko said that Westrick will compete in at least two events this season, possibly three, or the all-around. All-around competitors compete in each of the four events: balance beam, vault, uneven bars and floor.
"Emma Garrett will continue to be strong on vault and floor," Ewasko said. "She actually has a new vault that we'll be looking to showcase a little bit later this season that we're excited about.
"We have a freshman that will definitely be strong for us, and her name is Taylor Penzien. She's looking to be a possible all-arounder for us as well."
Southeast also has a new assistant coach, Sarah Shire, who is the balance beam coach. Shire was a four-time all-American during her three years at the University of Missouri. She was also a member of the 2010 Missouri gymnastics team that finished 12th at the NCAA National Championships.
"She brings a lot of energy to practices -- she'll bring a lot of energy to the competitions -- and between herself and myself we have really meshed well. We are on the exact same page, we have a great vision as to where this team can go and we're willing to put in all the work and effort to get them there," Ewasko said.
The Redhawks' first meet of the season will be against Lindenwood University at 6 p.m. Friday in St. Charles.
"We have to start out strong," Westrick said. "We have to start off ready and confident so that we hit our routines because as long as we hit our routines this year, our scores will be there, and I'm guessing we're going to win a lot more because we're looking really good."
