LEBANON, Tenn. – The Northern Illinois University Huskies overcame a slow start with a season-best performance on vault to take second place at the Tennessee Collegiate Classic Friday night in Lebanon, Tennessee. Lindenwood claimed the team title in the tri-meet with a score of 195.475, while the Huskies' score of 194.225 gave NIU the win over Southeast Missouri State, who finished third at 193.375.
 
"We had bright spots, there were positives," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "Brookelyn [Sears] had a great meet, Emmalise [Nock] had a nice vault, Tara [Kofmehl] was good on floor and there were others too. Overall, it's just not where we know it can be and that's the part that's frustrating."
 
Competing on the road for the third time in as many outings this season, the Huskies finished the meet with a 48.950 total on vault, led by freshman Emmalise Nock (Rosemount, Minn/Rosemount HS), whose 9.900 was NIU's top score on the event since 2017 and tied for the fourth highest vault score in school history. Nock was backed up by senior Gabby Welch (Greenbrier, Tenn./Aaron Academy) and junior Brookelyn Sears (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville HS), who tied for second with scores of 9.825.
 
In addition to posting her career high on vault, Sears led NIU on balance beam with a 9.800 to tie her career high on that event and scored a 9.775 on uneven parallel bars to lead the Huskies. Tara Kofmehl (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS) matched Sears' 9.8 on beam for her season best mark on the event and claimed the floor exercise title with a 9.900. Nock and fellow freshman Alana Anderson (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West HS) each scored 9.875 on floor to tie for second.
 
While pleased with the scores at the top of each event, Morreale said NIU is still working to put together a complete meet.
 
"It's just frustrating when we make some of those glaring mistakes," Morreale said. "We end up counting a miss, and we still are giving away points on our landings. As a team, we have to figure out how to step up and do in the meets what we do in practice every day. Hopefully we're learning, hopefully we'll build from all this and hit our stride."
 
NIU (4-3) completes its season-opening road trip with a dual meet at Mid-American Conference foe Bowling Green on Sunday, Jan. 30 in Bowling Green, Ohio.   
 
-- NIU --