Southeast Missouri State gymnastics team will host MIC Championships on Saturday

Alexis Brawner wasn't sure if her confidence would ever return.

She'd had surgery on her knee to have cartilage replaced and didn't think she was ever going to return to her old form.

In her freshman season at Southeast Missouri State last year, Brawner competed on vault in all 12 meets and balance beam in the final 10. However, she was in the lineup for the uneven bars just once in last year's Midwest Independent Conference Championships to close out the season and never competed on floor, which was the event she thought she may not be capable of doing again after surgery.

Brawner fell on both bars and beam during last year's MIC Championships, and although it was a moment of frustration, it also was her turning point.

"I was mad at myself, and so after that moment I knew I wanted to do better for my team, so I went home in the summer and worked hard to get my skills back to where I was before my surgery," Brawner said.

The 5-foot-2 sophomore is in a much different place going into the MIC Championships this year.

She's been named the MIC Gymnast of the Week each of the last three weeks and four times total this season.

She enters Saturday's conference meet, which will be at 4 p.m. at Houck Field House, with a spot in an NCAA regional in the all-around almost locked up.

Six teams advance to each NCAA regional. Four all-around competitors and two event specialists in each event not on a qualifying team also advance.

Her regional qualifying score of 38.945 is currently the best in the South Central region of an all-around competitor not on a qualifying team.

"I'm really proud of Alexis Brawner, who as a sophomore has been outstanding," Southeast coach Kristi Ewasko said. "She's just a competitor and she puts it all out there when she can."

Junior Lauren Israel's RQS of 38.780 in the all-around is currently fourth.

Illinois Chicago's Jenna Squillo and Nikki Woodruff and Texas Woman's Schyler Jones are the next three in line and will compete in the MIC championships. Lindenwood, Illinois State and Centenary College are also in the MIC.

"What's interesting is that all the all-arounders that could potentially knock her out are in our conference, so we will get to see them head-on battle on Saturday," Ewasko said. "And it's going to be a fight to the finish, I can guarantee you that."

As a sophomore, Israel was in the lineup for uneven bars and floor in all 12 meets and competed 11 times on the balance beam, but she did not compete in the vault.

"Last season we actually almost quit training vault because we thought she would never compete vault, and she told me this summer, 'Oh no, we're going to learn,'" Ewasko said with a grin. "So, actually, she learned a brand new vault this summer, which has kept her in the lineup every single competition. Those are the things that I believe have truly set a foundation for this program, of athletes really doing skills and routines that we never thought they'd be doing."

Freshman McKinzie Jones is one of those that has exceeded expectations and also has a shot at making it to regionals. She's ranks second in floor with an RQS of 9.845.

"We knew she was a really good beam worker, but she's really blossomed on floor," Ewasko said. "She anchors our lineup, which usually is unheard of as a freshman, so we're really proud of where she's at. She's on that verge, and it comes down to Saturday's meet."

Injuries throughout the season have made it difficult for the Redhawks.

Junior Ashley Thomas, who advanced to regionals in the all-around last year, has been limited due to injury. She's competed in vault only the last three meets and is expected to be back in more events Saturday.

Junior Alyssa Tucker went to the regionals as a freshman in the all-around. She competed in just seven meets last year before injuring her foot. In the first meet this season she fractured her foot and did not compete again until Feb. 13. She was only on bars for two meets, added beam on March 27 and then floor in the regular-season finale on March 10.

"Those are two really solid competitors for us, and so it's definitely a blessing for them to be back in our lineups," Ewasko said. "We think we'll give them a run for their money."

The Redhawks' scores haven't been as high as Ewasko would've liked or expected this season, some of which is due to missing those key athletes. But she's also been impressed with some athletes stepping in to try to fill the voids.

One of the team's biggest issues has been dealing with nerves in meets. The cheering and support present in practices would evaporate in some tense moments when things went wrong in competition, and it would lead to more problems.

"Overall we've improved on that," Ewasko said. "We've been able to, if there has been a fall, we've trained that next person to be able to step up and get the team back going. And that's something that has really improved this year is it hasn't just gone from one event to the nextÂ…[where if] we start off struggling, it gets worse. We've improved on that and really had some strong event scores this year. We haven't put all four events together yet, so we're hoping Saturday will be that day, and then we have some really strong all-arounders that we're looking to compete this year for some all-around conference titles as well."

Lindenwood won last year's MIC title, its first, while the Redhawks took fourth. The Lions bring the top RQS (193.325) into the meet while Southeast is second (192.965), followed by Illinois State (192.380). Illinois-Chicago (192.075), Texas Women's (191.885) and Centenary College (189.285) round out the bottom half.

The Redhawks won their sixth MIC championship in 2014. Their other MIC championships came in 1991, 1996, 1997, 2009 and 2011. Only Illinois-Chicago has won more with 12, including in 2013. Illinois State, Texas Woman's and Northern Illinois each have won twice.

"Honestly, there's no given year of a guaranteed win for anyone," Ewasko said, "so we're excited this year to be on our home turf and really try to get back the MIC title from what we've lost the past few years."

Brawner agreed that she's excited to compete in Houck one more time this season and is eager to see if the team can put together a more complete performance.

"I am focused on just trying to do what I know how to do," Brawner said. "Like I don't want to put too much thought into it. I believe in the team. I feel like we could really win conference if everyone just has their mind in the right place because we have a lot of talent and we have a lot of heart."