Women's Gymnastics | March 31

DeKALB, Ill. ­– Five Northern Illinois University gymnasts head to Lafayette, Ark. to compete in the 2017 South Central NCAA Regional on Saturday. The competition begins at
 
"It's really exciting to get the four qualifiers and the alternate to regionals," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "Last year, we brought four individual event competitors, so it's really cool to get a couple of all-around competitors qualified and to have Courtney qualify in two events. It's all a testament to how hard they have worked all year, and their consistency."
 
The Huskies have been split up onto four different teams. Senior Jamyra Carter (Ypsilanti, Mich./Huron) will compete with Arkansas as an uneven parallel bars specialist, senior Courtney Dowdell (Lynnwood, Ill./Thornton Fractional South) will compete with Mid-American Conference team Central Michigan as a uneven parallel and floor specialist, and juniors Ashley Potts (Oakwood Hills, Ill./Prairie Ridge) and Katherine Prentice (Indianapolis, Ind./Roncalli) will compete as all-around competitors with California and Auburn, respectively. 
 
The four competitors will be joined by Andie Van Voorhis (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard), as she will travel as an alternate.
 
These five gymnasts have recorded their best seasons this year. Carter's record-breaking season landed her three NIU Scholar Athlete of the Week honors, two Specialist of the week honors, MAC Specialist of the Year, All-MAC Second Team Honors and Academic All-MAC honors.
 
Her heavily decorated season came from a 9.877 regular season average, tying her for 11^th in the nation and fourth in the region. She earned a spot at the NCAA Regional Championship after tying the 18th highest regional qualifying score of 9.900.
 
Her averages were earned after tying a 20-year school record and etching her name in the record book four other times this season adding to the one she earned during her junior season. Carter did not dip below a 9.800 this season, which she scored once in the second week.
 
Dowdell also recorded her name in the NIU record book as she hit four 9.900 scores this season between the uneven parallel bars and floor, splitting evenly between the two. Dowdell also earned a weekly award as she earned Specialist of the Week after the first week of competition.
 
The two all-around competitors, Potts and Prentice, earned their spots after recording nine career highs between the two. Prentice set career highs in every event this season including her all-around score of 39.250. Potts was able to achieve career highs on every event, but missed her all-around high of 39.275 narrowly after earning a 39.250 at the MAC Championships.
 
Van Voorhis led the Huskies' vault squad as she was the only one to hit a 9.900 on the event this season. Her 9.900 against Central Michigan tied the fourth highest score in school history. 
 
 
"Our success this year rooted from these four and their leadership, how they went about each day of practice, and how they approached competition," said Coach Morreale. "Definitely looking forward to them giving it their all and seeing if that all is good enough to get to Nationals to take that next step. We're going to try to win some events and put our best routines out there and see what happens."
 
For fans that wish to follow the regional qualifiers, live stats can be found by clicking here or can watch the live stream.
 
-NIU-