March 11, 2007

KALAMAZOO, Mich. - While continuing to battle injury and illness that has plagued the team this season, the Northern Illinois gymnasts lost a narrow decision to defending Mid-American Conference champion Western Michigan Sunday in Kalamazoo, falling by a score of 192.775-192.500.

The dual meet loss drops Northern Illinois' record to 5-8 overall, 1-4 in MAC play, while Western Michigan improves to 4-7, 3-2.

"I like the way we competed today," said NIU Head Coach Mark Sontag. "I was pleased with the pressure we put on them and we placed well on some individual events. We just need to get more people consistently hitting their routines and we're right there. "

Northern Illinois once again received some outstanding individual performances as seniors Meghan Cronin and Jody Yednock claimed the individual event titles on the balance beam and uneven parallel bars, respectively, with scores of 9.800 and 9.850. Cronin's 9.800 was a season and career high for the St. Charles, Ill. native, while Yednock's 9.850 tied her season-best, set twice previously this season.

NIU also got a courageous performance from sophomore Jennifer Naughton, who battled a flu bug throughout the weekend, but came through with a 9.750 vault and a 9.700 routine on balance beam to tie for third place on both events.

Sophomore Leah Johnson tallied an all-around score of 38.650, her second-best score of the season, to take second place. She tied Naughton for third place on both the vault and beam, and added a 9.650 on the uneven parallel bars and a 9.550 on floor exercise to complete her day.

In addition to her bars title, Yednock placed second on the beam with a season-best 9.725 while Tiffany Anderson's 9.750 on the bars was her season-high and tied for third place on that event.

As a team, NIU's best event of the day was the balance beam as the Huskies swept the top three places and tallied a team total of 48.600, its second-highest beam score of the season. The Huskies were also solid on vault with a 48.325 team score.

"Our beam team did well with a 48.600 and only one miss so that was nice to see," Sontag said. "Jody's set on bars was probably the best one I've ever seen her do. She's really hit her stride."

Northern Illinois has one MAC dual meet remaining as the Huskies travel to Mt. Pleasant, Mich. next Saturday to face Central Michigan in a 2 p.m. (Eastern) meet. NIU will then play host to the Illinois State Championships on March 25 at the Convocation Center beginning at 2 p.m.

-- NIU --