DENTON, Texas (Mar. 21) – A school record on floor, a season-high team score, and numerous individual career highs lifted the Pioneers to a second place finish at the 2015 Midwest Independent Conference (MIC) Championships on Saturday night in front of 680 fans at Kitty Magee Arena.
 
TWU senior Spencer Jones made the final home meet of her career a memorable one by winning two event titles.  Jones tied her career-high on beam to share the event title before closing out the meet on the floor with a career-high to capture the event title.
 
Lindenwood won the team title edging TWU by .050 with a team score of 195.800.  The Pioneers finished with a season-high 195.750 while Illinois State placed third with 194.550 followed by Southeast Missouri State (194.450), Illinois-Chicago (194.425) and Centenary (190.875). The impressive team score for the Pioneers was just short of the school-record of 196.000 set on March 16, 2003 vs. Air Force. It was also the second-highest score for TWU at an MIC Championship, behind the 195.975 earned by TWU at the 2003 Championships in Shreveport, Louisiana.
 
The Pioneers dominated from the get go on Saturday as they scored a season-high 48.900 on vault with five TWU gymnasts scoring a 9.725 or higher.  Freshmen Mallory Moredock (9.775) and Schyler Jones (9.850) both recorded career highs.  Sophomore Katie Simpson tied her career-high with a 9.800.
 
After a bye in the second rotation, TWU scored a 48.725 on bars in the third rotation.  Senior Courtney Cochefski scored a 9.875 and finished second overall.   Freshman Alyssa Kelly recorded a new career-high with a 9.800.
 
The Pioneers scored another season-high on beam in the fourth rotation with a 48.800.  Spencer Jones posted a 9.900 to win the title while freshman Taylor Vincent tied her career-high with a 9.725.
 
After another bye, TWU closed out the meet on floor in the sixth rotation with a school record of 49.325.  The Pioneers broke the old mark (49.300) set in 2003 at the USA Gymnastics National Championships Team Finals.  All six gymnasts in the TWU line-up scored a 9.750 or higher led by Spencer Jones with a 9.925.  Senior Kayla Jones (9.900), junior Madison Kremer (9.800) and Schyler Jones (9.850) also posted career highs while senior Stephanie Repp tied her career-high with a 9.850.  Kayla Jones tied for second overall on the event behind Sp. Jones.
 
"I am so proud of the team and this is the team we knew they could be all along," said TWU head coach Lisa Bowerman.  "It's been a challenging year in a lot of ways and it's been a fantastic year in a lot of ways.  Before the meet I told them to leave it all out there and they absolutely did that.  The four seniors were outstanding today.  They can look back at their last meet in Kitty Magee Arena and say that it was one of the best they ever had."
 
Five TWU gymnasts earned All-Midwest Independent Conference honors with their performances on Saturday night. Cochefski (UB), Kayla Jones (FX), Spencer Jones (BB, FX) were first team All-MIC selections. Schyler Jones (BB, FX, AA), Stephanie Repp (BB, FX), and Spencer Jones (AA) were the TWU recipients of second team All-MIC recognition.