DeKALB, Ill. – Junior Brookelyn Sears won the all-around with the third-highest score in school history and the Northern Illinois University gymnastics team posted its third-best score of the year in taking third at the NIU Beauty and the Beast Quad Meet at the NIU Convocation Center Sunday.
 
NIU split versus its two MAC foes in the meet, outscoring Western Michigan, 195.500-194.050, just behind Central Michigan's 196.125 second-place total. Iowa State won the meet with a score of 196.275. The Huskies stand at 2-2 in the MAC, 9-6 overall with three meets remaining in the regular season.
 
"This was our third-highest score of the year so super-happy with that," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "Our goal is to be in this mid-195 range to end the season so we're going where we want to go. As a coach, do I feel like we could have gone a little higher, yes. As a coach, you see the mistakes, but overall what we did today was great, and we're going to try to build on that and keep going in the right direction."
 
Sears scored 9.800 or higher on all four of her events, earning a career-best 9.900 on uneven parallel bars to tie for third on that event, and scoring 9.850 on balance beam to tie for first in the meet. She added a 9.825 on floor exercise and a 9.800 on vault. Her 39.375 won the all-around and marked the highest score by a Huskie gymnast since Kristina Campos scored 39.400 three times in the 2004 season.
 
"Brookelyn is a rock star," Morreale said of the junior from Centerville, Ohio (Centerville HS). "She is so even keeled that I had to tell her to smile after the meet. She had some injuries to start the year, so it's nice to see her starting to shine."
 
Senior Morgan Hooper (Lincoln, Neb./St. Pius X) also tallied her highest all-around total of the season with a 39.050, topped by a career high 9.875 on floor exercise and a 9.825 on bars. Freshman Alana Anderson (Joliet, Ill./Joliet West HS) led the Huskies on floor with a career high 9.900, breaking through after scoring 9.875 four times this year.
 
NIU totaled a 49.275 on floor for its best event of the meet with freshman Isabella Sissi (Blaine, Minn./Mounds View HS) adding a career high 9.825 and senior Tara Kofmehl (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS) a 9.850. Junior Natalie Hamp (Ionia, Mich./Ionia HS)  tied Sears for third on bars with a 9.900 while senior Gabby Welch (Greenbrier, Tenn./Aaron Academy) matched Sears on vault with a 9.800 to lead NIU. On beam, Sears' winning score was backed up by freshman Ellery Werner's (Rhinelander, Wis./Rhinelander HS) 9.825.   
 
The Huskies next close out their February homestand when they play host to Ball State on Friday, February 25 in the NIU Convocation Center.  The meet will mark Senior Night for the Huskies' five seniors.  
 
-- NIU --