Women's Gymnastics | January 17

Ypsilanti, Mich. – Senior Ellery Werner won the balance beam event to highlight the Northern Illinois University gymnastics team's performance at the EMU Quad Meet Friday night. NIU also faced off with Ball State and Winona State in the meet.

NIU scored 193.275 to take third place in the meet. Eastern Michigan totaled 195.125 to edge Ball State, who finished with a 195.000. Winona State was fourth with 189.450.  The win over Winona State was the first of NIU interim head coach Nita Teague's career.  

"I thought we had a nice improvement since Florida," Teague said. "We settled down quite a bit, and the nerves settled down, so it was great to see us perform closer to what we see in the gym every day."

Senior Isabella Sissi (Blaine, Minn./Mounds View) and junior Kiera O'Shea (Norridge, Ill./Ridgewood) both earned second place on events. Sissi earned second place bars with a 9.850, while O'Shea posted a 9.825 on vault.

NIU opened the meet on floor and tallied a 48.575 as a team. Senior Alana Anderson led the way for NIU with a 9.800 which earned her fourth place in the meet. Dawsyn Sallee (Versailles, Ky./Woodford County) and Mikayla Brown (Suwanee, Ga./Peachtree Ridge) followed closely with a score of 9.725.

"O'Shea had a great vault to earn second," Teague said. "Sissi probably did one of the best bar routines I've seen her do and Ellie had a super solid performance to win the meet on beam."

On vault, O'Shea led the way with a 9.825 and second place finish. Sallee scored a 9.725 and took fourth place. The Huskies scored a 48.350 on the vault.

Sissi tied her career high on bars with a 9.85 and earned second place in the event.  Natalia Kraus (Fairport, N.Y./Fairport) added a 9.750 on bars.

NIU closed out the meet on beam. In addition to Werner's winning score of 9.850, Brown scored a 9.750 and Isabella Ross added a 9.675

"We're just on a build right now, so I'm expecting the best performance of the year when we come home next week," Teague said. "This team genuinely cares about one another and supports each other. I think that will just shine through for the seniors next week."

NIU will honor its four seniors and hold Senior Day ceremonies prior to its home opening dual meet versus Illinois State next Friday, January 24. The meet begins at 6 p.m. inside the main arena of the NIU Convocation Center.  All NIU gymnastics regular season meets are free to attend.

-- NIU --