Feb. 20, 2009

Box Score

Complete Stats in PDF Format

MT. PLEASANT, Mich. - The good news for Northern Illinois' women's gymnastics team Friday at Central Michigan was that the Huskies solved the woes on the balance beam that caused them to lose last week's meet at Illinois-Chicago. The bad news was that the Huskies suffered a series of falls on the uneven parallel bars that once again resulted in a loss, the first Mid-American Conference defeat of the season for NIU.

Northern Illinois tallied a season-low 192.475 points to fall to 4-2 overall, 3-1 in the MAC, as Central Michigan improved to 8-2, 5-2 while totaling 195.350.

"We came up in one area with the changes we made on beam, but our bars did what our beam did last time out and we counted three falls," said head coach Mark Sontag. "We are so strong on every event, but we are just not hitting every event in each meet. Every year it seems like we have one really rough meet and hopefully this one was it."

NIU faces its quickest turnaround of the season as they take on preseason MAC favorite Kent State Sunday in the Convocation Center beginning at 2 p.m. The meet will mark Senior Day for six Huskies and has also been designated Northern Illinois' Stick It Pink Meet in honor of breast cancer awareness. Kent State comes in after posting one of the top scores in the country in its last outing when they went 196.15 a week ago.

"We haven't had a perfect meet yet, so maybe Sunday is our time to put it all together," Sontag said. "Each event has scored well enough for us to go in the high 195s. We need to do what we're capable of on every event - go 24 for 24 and then see where we go."

Friday, once again Holly Reichard (Palatine, Ill./Palatine Fremd HS) led the Huskies as she took second place on the floor exercise with a 9.800 to record NIU's highest score of the day and added a 9.775 on vault to tie for third. Senior Jennifer Naughton (Smithville, Mo./Smithville HS) claimed fifth place on vault as she scored 9.750 and tied for fourth on floor exercise with the same total. Freshman Tanya Rachan (Lowell, Ind./Hanover Central HS) was fourth on uneven bars with a career high 9.750.

On Sunday, NIU will honor seniors Naughton, Leah Johnson (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South HS), Jessica Marston (Glendale Heights, Ill./Glenbard East HS), Briana Dicus (Rochelle, Ill./Rochelle HS), Ashton Flora (Faucett, Mo./ Mid-Buchanan R-V HS) and Tiffany Anderson (Bolingbrook, Ill./Bolingbrook HS). It's a core group for the 2009 team that has seen the program improve by leaps and bounds during their time in DeKalb.

"We went from a struggling type of team to one of the top three teams in the MAC," Sontag said of his senior group. "They've seen the team turnaround and been a big part of that turnaround. They're all represented in the line-up. It is a group of seniors who have brought a lot to the program and will be very sorely missed."

Sunday's meet is the last home competition of the season for the Huskies. Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for youth with NIU students admitted free.

-- NIU --