DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's gymnastics team will honor five seniors and welcome gymnastics alumnae back to campus on Friday, February 17 during its final home meet of 2023. The Huskies (6-3, 2-2 MAC) will take on Eastern Michigan (0-11, 0-3 MAC) in a dual meet that will be broadcast on ESPN+.
Huskie seniors Gillian and
Jacklyn Dolitsky (Commack, N.Y./Commack),
Natalie Hamp (Ionia, Mich./Ionia HS),
Ciara Ryan (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South HS) and
Brookelyn Sears (Centerville, Ohio/Centerville HS) will be honored at the conclusion of the meet.
During their tenure, NIU gymnastics has recorded four of the Top 10 vault scores in school history, five of the top 10 bars scores at NIU, four of the top 10 beam scores all-time and three of the Top 10 floor scores. Six of NIU's Top 10 team scores have been achieved since their freshman season in 2020, and NIU has set school records on bars, on balance beam and for total team score during their time as Huskies.
This season, NIU has already recorded four scores of 195-plus, including a season-high 195.950 last week at Ball State. The Huskies set team season high scores on vault (48.925) and bars (49.125) in the meet and scored above 48.925 on all four events.
"We expect all of our upperclassmen to become leaders and hold a leadership position in some way," said NIU head coach
Sam Morreale. "They step into that role of being there for their teammates. This group came in after our [2019] MAC Championship, they came into a team that was defending. They went through seeing their freshman year cut short [due to COVID-19] and then had two really good years of leading us to second place finishes [at the MAC Championships]. We're where we want to be [at the top echelon of the MAC] and it's because they weren't satisfied."
Hamp, Sears, Ryan and
Jacklyn Dolitsky will all be in the line-up Friday night. Hamp, a two-time MAC Champion and two-time NCAA qualifier on uneven parallel bars, has 11 scores of 9.900 or higher on bars in her Huskie career. After competing as an all-arounder in the past, Sears is one of the Huskies' top gymnasts on both bars and balance beam in 2023.
After working her way into the line-up on vault with one of the Huskies' most difficult vaults a year ago, Ryan is now a three-event performer for NIU, earning spots on both bars and floor exercise in addition to vault.
Jacklyn Dolitsky is seeing her first action for NIU on floor exercise as a senior.
Gillian Dolitsky, who was slated to contribute on vault and bars a year ago, suffered a career-ending injury during warm-ups at the season opener in Gainesville, Florida. She remains an important part of the team, providing a positive presence in the gym and during meets.
The first 250 fans at Friday night's meet will receive a free NIU gymnastics leotard koozie. The Huskies will spend the last three weeks of the regular season on the road, beginning Sunday, Feb. 26 at Lindenwood.
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