Feb. 24, 2002

East Lansing, Mich. - Perched at No. 38 in the country, the University of Illinois at Chicago women's gymnastics team remained hot on Saturday evening, recording a season-best score of 194.875 on its way to beating No. 33 Ball State and No. 35 New Hampshire at the 13th annual Spartan Invitational hosted by Michigan State.

The 30th-ranked Spartans were victorious, winning the four-team meet with a quality score of 195.700, the fifth-highest team score in Michigan State history.

UIC continues to eliminate little mistakes, as the Flames edge their way towards the 195 mark.

The Flames grabbed a pair of individual event titles on the night, as another school record was reached.

Atlin Mitchell, who has been coming on of late, scored a 9.900 on vault to win the event and equal the UIC school record. Just last weekend at Florida, Amy August tallied a 9.900 to tie the mark originally set by former Flames' standout Gabriella Brunn on three different occasions.

Jaclyn Messerges took the other UIC triumph, winning the uneven bars event with a score of 9.850.

One key for the Flames was their performance on beam, which has been a thorn in their side all season long.

Thanks to a quartet of solid routines, UIC put together a season-best effort on the thin apparatus, piecing together a 48.350 team score.

Sara Casica was her usual solid self with a 9.800, good for a third-place tie, while August (9.775), Nadia Ori (9.775) and Kimberly Sommer (9.700) helped out the UIC cause.

Casica also added clean routines on floor and bars, finishing in a tie for fourth on floor (9.850) and tallying a 9.700 on bars.

August added a nice effort on bars, tying for third with a score of 9.800.

The Flames will head back into competition on Saturday, March 2, when they travel to Cedar City, Utah to lock horns with Southern Utah and Central Michigan.