Feb. 3, 2008

Final Stats

DeKALB, Ill. - All season long, Northern Illinois Head Coach Mark Sontag has touted the depth of his 2008 team. On Sunday versus Ball State in the Convocation Center, that depth was put to the test.

Forced to compete without junior all-arounder Leah Johnson (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South HS), who was injured during warm-ups on the vault and scratched from all four events, NIU still posted a score of 192.400 to improve to 2-1 on the season and in league competition. Ball State, which scored 188.625, drops to 0-4, 0-3.

Northern Illinois gymnasts claimed the top three places in all four events with freshman Holly Reichard (Palatine, Ill./Fremd HS) winning the vault, bars and all-around titles while junior Jennifer Naughton (Smithville, Mo./Smithville HS) was first on the balance beam and floor exercise. The Huskies also got second place finishes from Naughton on vault, sophomore Natalie Blum (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township HS) on bars, freshman Jessica Watanabe (Palatine, Ill./Palatine HS) on beam and senior Jennifer Rice (Homewood, Ill./Homewood-Flossmoor HS) on floor exercise.

"I'm more pleased today than last week because we did it the hard way," said NIU Head Coach Mark Sontag. "We stepped up as a team at every position and got the job done. Today, everyone knew that every routine was going to count, and to see them come together and step up like that was really big."

After Johnson was hurt, NIU competed on vault and bars with just five competitors meaning that all five scores would count toward the team total. The Huskies responded with a 47.950 on vault behind Reichard, Naughton and Blum, and a 47.925 total on bars as Reichard, Blum, Watanabe and Ashton Flora finished 1-4 on the event.

Northern also scored a season-best 48.775 on the floor exercise to close out the day with each of NIU's top five gymnasts scoring over a 9.725 on the event Sunday.

"This was really a confidence building day for this group," Sontag said. "To know that we can get the job done even when someone like Leah goes down will really help us going forward."

In addition to Naughton, Sontag had praise for his two true freshmen in the line-up as well as Blum.

"Natalie Blum had a vaulting injury earlier this week and we've been nursing it, but she did a great job on three events. Jessica Watanabe is a freshman in the starting line-up on bars and beam and she showed mental toughness out there. Holly really got the job done, she has competed like a veteran since she got here."

The Huskies will now have next weekend off before returning to action on Saturday, Feb. 16 with a meet at UIC.

-- NIU --