DeKALB, Ill. – After weeks of falling just short of an elusive 195 score, the Northern Illinois University women's gymnastics team blew past the mark while hitting 23 of 24 routines Friday night to take second in a triangular meet with Illinois State and Iowa State at the NIU Convocation Center.
NIU scored a season-high 195.500 to take the win over Illinois State (194.650), with Iowa State earning the overall win with a 196.575. The split improves the Huskies' season record to 4-6 overall and closed out the team's home schedule with a 3-2 mark.
"We had a good day," said NIU head coach
Sam Morreale. "We were ready, and we had a good day, starting with vault. We've been talking about [going 195], saying we have the talent and the ability to do it, and today we actually did it. I'm definitely super-happy with the performance, and there's still more room there [to score higher]."
The NIU uneven bars and balance beam teams both posted season-highs in the meet with the Huskies 49.175 on bars ranked sixth all-time. On bars, NIU had four scores of 9.875 or 9.825 with
Tara Kofmehl (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS) and
Natalie Hamp (Ionia, Mich./Ionia HS) both tying for third at 9.875. Huskie all-arounders Kofmehl and
Morgan Hooper (Lincoln, Neb./St. Pius X) led the way on balance beam as they tied for fourth with matching 9.850 scores.
NIU rounded out the meet on floor exercise where
Nicolette DiPrisco (Aberdeen, N.J./Red Bank Catholic HS) tied for third with a 9.850 with Kofmehl and Hooper close behind at 9.800 and 9.775, respectively. The floor squad scored a 48.900 for the second-best mark of the season on that event. Kofmehl and
Zoie Schroeder (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) led the Huskies on vault with scores of 9.750.
Kofmehl took second in the all-around with a 39.275 for her second-best all-around score of the season, while Hooper posted a career high 39.100 in just her second all-around meet of the season. The junior recorded season highs on bars, beam and floor exercise.
"Tara had a great day and for Morgan to go 39.1 in one of her first all-arounds of the year gave us a nice one-two punch," Morreale said. "All the individuals that we've seen throughout the year stepped up again and did really well. This is the time of year when you want to be hitting your stride and we saw that today. Now, we have a quick turnaround to go out and do it again Sunday [at Illinois State Quad Meet]."
The Huskies return to action Sunday at 2 p.m. versus Illinois State, Lindenwood and Central Michigan in Normal, Illinois. The meet can be viewed on ESPN+.
-- NIU --
