Women's Gymnastics | February 1

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team hosted the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse at the NIU Convocation Center on Sunday afternoon and won the meet by score of 193.000-191.400. The Huskies won three of the four rotations in their second home meet of the season.

"Really impressed with how they kept plugging away," said head coach Nita Teague said. "We had some nice, solid performances across the board."

Junior Mikayla Brown (Suwanee, Ga./Peachtree Ridge) led the Huskies in two different routines, scoring a 9.800 in both beam and floor. Sunday afternoon set season-high marks for Brown and the junior has now placed on floor in consecutive meets.

Freshman Elizabeth Poncin (Tinley Park, Ill./Tinley Park) and sophomore Maria King (Nashville, Tenn./Currey Ingram Academy) turned in career-high marks on bars. Poncin landed first place with a 9.775, her second time placing on bars in the last three meets. King finished second with a 9.750 and took home second place.

Rotation One
NIU opened the meet with a 48.325 on vault and swept the top finishes for the meet. Sophomore Audrey Brenner (Fond du Lac, Wis./Fond du Lac) and freshman Alanah Wallace (Frisco, Tex./Frisco) tied for first place after earning a vault score of 9.725.

Junior Dawsyn Sallee (Versailles, Ky./Woodford County High) finished third with a score of 9.700.

"(Vault) really got us off to a great start," said Teague. "We had great vaults from Alanah and Audrey. They put some really nice vaults up on the table. The girls are landing well."

Rotation Two
Poncin and King led the Huskies on bars while freshman Makenna Brooks (Kokomo, Ind./Eastern) landed a score of 9.650 to set a new personal best.

Rotation Three
Brown's 9.800 score on beam tied a team-high by NIU this season. Brooks and Sallee were the next highest scoring Huskies, each earning a 9.675 and setting another season-high for Brooks.  

Rotation Four
The Huskies closed the meet just how they opened it by sweeping the top three finishes, this time on floor. NIU finished with a 48.675, its highest event score of the dual.

Brown earned her first win on floor of the season while sophomore Drake White (Indianapolis, Ind./Bishop Chatard) and senior Jocelyn Harbeck (Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way East) rounded out the top three.

"Great energy out there (on floor), they were having a lot of fun," said Teague. "The girls really wanted to come out of today with a win so we're really happy about this."

NIU is back at home this Friday, Feb. 6 at 6 p.m. vs. Western Michigan.