April 20, 2007
DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois senior Jody Yednock (West Chicago, Ill.) and sophomore Jennifer Naughton (Smithville, Mo.) have been selected to the 2007 Academic All Mid-American Conference Gymnastics team by the league's faculty athletic representatives, the MAC office announced Thursday. Northern Illinois is one of only two league schools to place two individuals on the nine-person squad.
Yednock, a math major who carries a perfect 4.00 grade point average, earned her first Academic All-MAC selection after competing in every meet for the Huskies on the uneven parallel bars and in 11 of 12 meets on the balance beam. She was NIU's top performer on the bars with five scores of 9.800 or better on the season, including three times achieving her season-best of 9.850. She tied for second on the bars at the 2007 MAC Championships and won the event at four meets this season.
Naughton has posted a cumulative 3.78 grade point average in two years at Northern Illinois. The sophomore from Smithville, Mo. has not selected a major. She competed in every meet on the vault, beam and floor exercise for the Huskies and led or matched the team best score on all three events with a 9.850 on vault, a 9.875 on beam and a 9.850 on floor.
Both Yednock and Naughton were alternate selections to the 2007 NCAA South Central Regional on the uneven parallel bars and balance beam, respectively. They are the seventh and eighth NIU selections to the squad since 2003 and this season marks the third time Northern Illinois has had two student-athletes named Academic All-MAC for gymnastics.
The remainder of the 2007 Academic All-MAC Gymnastics team was comprised of: Kelly Watson (Sr., Ball State), Jholeen Ponce (Jr., Bowling Green), Jules Passy (Sr., Central Michigan), Duyen Zu Voung (Soph., Eastern Michigan), Laci Hendress (Soph., Kent State), Andrea Perini (Soph., Western Michigan) and Jennifer Sturgis (Soph., Western Michigan).
Northern Illinois concluded its 2007 season March 25 at the MAC Championships with two gymnasts advancing to the NCAA South Central Regional April 14 in Tucson, Ariz. The Huskies lose five seniors off a team that placed fifth in the MAC and second in the state at the Illinois Classic.
-- NIU --
