Feb. 18, 2010

DeKALB, Ill. - The Northern Illinois gymnastics team faces its toughest challenge of the 2010 season this Friday at 6 p.m. as the Huskies take on Mid-American Conference preseason favorite Kent State and Rutgers in a triangular meet at the M.A.C. Center in Kent, Ohio.

The Huskies will be attempting to break KSU's 15-meet MAC winning streak while continuing to raise their team score. Northern Illinois has recorded a season best team score in each of its first five meets this season en route to a 5-2 overall record and a 2-1 league mark. Kent State is 4-2, 2-0 on the year.

Despite the success, NIU Head Coach Mark Sontag is still looking for the Huskies to put together a complete meet.

"I'm looking forward to the meet when we hit all four events," Sontag said. "When this team puts all four together, we'll be in really good shape. Our routines are good, the girls are confident and so far this season, our game plan is working. We want to keep improving week after week. "

Northern Illinois is coming off an open date after posting a second-place finish at the Texas Woman's Quadrangular with a team score of 192.425 on Feb. 7. The Huskies defeated Air Force and Centenary while falling to the host Pioneeers at that meet. NIU recorded season-best totals on vault (47.975) and floor exercise (48.400) in Texas. Senior Natalie Blum (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township HS) continues to pace the Huskies as sophomore Tanya Rachan (Lowell, Ind./Hanover Central HS) develops as an all-arounder and 2009 MAC Gymnast of the Year Holly Reichard (Palatine, Ill./Palatine Fremd HS) works her way back from injury.

"Natalie Blum looks great, as she has all year," Sontag said. "Ashley Guerra has been looking very good and so is Tanya Rachan. Holly Reichard has looked better than I've seen her all year. We still have a lot of internal competition and a lot of people pushing each other, which is what we want. The line-up is going to be in constant change this year. We will still try to figure out who is hot that day."

Northern Illinois takes on the challenge of defeating Kent State, which has won the last two MAC Gymnastics titles, in as good shape as the team has been in all season.

"We've had a weekend of rest and a lot of good training over the past 10 days," Sontag said. "I feel confident we've put the work in and we're in a good spot. We're looking forward to going down there and see how we match up with the best in the MAC."

The Huskies will open the triangular meet on uneven parallel bars. The Kent State website will have live scoring updates from the meet. Click here or go to www.KentStateSports.com to follow the action.

-- NIU --

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