Feb. 3, 2007

Final Stats

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Northern Illinois posted a season-high performance on the uneven parallel bars and tied its season-best on balance beam to take second place in a Quadrangular Meet at Iowa City, Iowa Saturday. In the Huskies' first road action of the season, NIU defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater and Winona State while falling to host Iowa, 194.575-190.700.

Sophomore Leah Johnson led Northern Illinois on the night with strong performances on the vault, bars and floor. Johnson placed fourth on the vault and sixth on the bars with identical 9.725 scores, and tied for seventh on floor with a 9.475, an indication of the tough scoring that the Huskies found on the road.

"Leah had a really nice night," Sontag said. "She had four strong events, with a beautiful set on the floor. A 9.475 tonight would have been a 9.8 at most meets. It's much tougher to go on the road and compete, especially for a team with several freshmen, new people in key spots in the line-up and new skills. But I think we competed very, very well tonight and we really came together as a team for the first time this year."

In addition to Johnson, sophomore Jennifer Naughton and senior Jody Yednock notched top five finishes in individual events for the Huskies. Naughton tied for third on the beam with a 9.700 score and added a sixth-place finish on the vault, posting a 9.650. Yednock tied for fourth on the bars with a 9.750 as Northern Illinois rebounded from a rough outing on bars in its last meet to earn its top team score of the season at 48.400.

"To come back after the last meet [a dual meet loss to Bowling Green] and have only three misses in the entire meet was an incredible improvement," Sontag said. "We had about seven misses last week and tonight we only had to count one fall so this was a vast improvement."

The lowest score NIU counted on bars Saturday was Allison Holysz' 9.550 as senior Brittany Swantek came through with a 9.675 in her first action of the year, and freshman Natalie Blum had a 9.700 to join Johnson and Yednock. Blum was also Northern's leader on the floor with a 9.600.

"A lot of people stepped up tonight," Sontag said. "Brittany Swantek went from exhibition last week and stepped in and got the job done on bars. Jennifer Rice went out there on floor and we didn't really expect to have her in the line-up there tonight, and she did a nice job. Jennifer Naughton had a great meet for the second straight week. I was just very happy with the way we competed."

Northern Illinois returns to action next Sunday, Feb. 11 when they host Mid-American Conference foe Kent State at the NIU Convocation Center at 2 p.m.

Team Scores:
1. Iowa 194.575
2. Northern Illinois 190.700
3. UW-Whitewater 178.125
4. Winona State 176.925

NIU Scores

Vault: 4. Leah Johnson 9.725, 6. Jennifer Naughton 9.650, 8. Jocelyn Sandoval 9.550, T9. Natalie Blum 9.450, 11. Amber Whitecotton 9.425. Team Score: 47.800

Bars: T4. Jody Yednock 9.750, 6. Leah Johnson 9.725, T7. Natalie Blum 9.700, 9. Brittany Swantek 9.675, 12. Allison Holysz 9.550, Other NIU Scores: Nicole Brugnoni 8.550. Team Score: 48.400

Beam: T3. Jennifer Naughton 9.700, 6. Jennifer Rice 9.550, 7. Amber Whitecotton 9.525, 9. Jody Yednock 9.450, T15. Meghan Cronin 8.900, T15. Leah Johnson 8.900. Team Score: 47.125

Floor: 6. Natalie Blum 9.600, T7. Leah Johnson 9.475, T7. Jennifer Rice 9.475, 9. Amber Whitecotton 9.450, 10. Jennifer Naughton 9.375, 11. Ashton Flora 9.375. Team Score: 47.375

All-Around: 5. Leah Johnson 37.825.

-- NIU --