At a glance
- NIU wins first dual meet of season
- Mikayla Brown claims floor exercise title, places second on balance beam
- Huskies sweep podiums on vault and floor
DeKALB — After dropping each of its past four dual meets dating back to the 2025 season, the NIU gymnastics team downed the Wisconsin-La Crosse Eagles 193.000-191.400 on Friday afternoon inside the Convocation Center to notch its first dual-meet victory of the 2026 campaign.
The Huskies (2-3, 0-3 MAC) posted their second-highest team score of the season as they swept the podiums on vault and on floor exercise. NIU also won three of the meet’s four events, with UW-La Crosse (3-3, 2-0 WIAC) taking only the balance beam title.
“Really impressed with how they kept plugging away,” head coach Dawnita “Nita” Teague said via NIU Athletics. “We had some nice, solid performances across the board. Didn’t get some of our personal records, but we had a great performance.”
Junior Mikayla Brown placed on the podium twice after posting identical scores of 9.800 on the balance beam and floor exercise. Brown was the meet’s floor champion and runner-up on beam.
“I couldn’t be more proud of her,” Teague said. “She’s a great competitor to watch and she had a great, strong performance today.”
HOW IT HAPPENED
Despite opening the meet with its worst vault score of the season (48.325), NIU produced the top four individual finishes in the event.
Seniors Samantha Nickle (9.450) and Jocelyn Harbeck (9.525) opened the lineup with season-low scores, before junior Dawsyn Sallee steadied the Huskies with a 9.700 to place third. Sophomore Drake White followed with 9.650, good for fourth place. Freshman Alanah Wallace and sophomore Audrey Brenner then closed out the order with matching scores of 9.725 to split first place.
In the second rotation, NIU posted its second-best team score on bars all season — a 47.800. After freshman Deziray Boykin fell from the apparatus in the leadoff spot for an 8.825, fellow freshman Elizabeth Poncin answered with the best routine of her young collegiate career. Poncin earned a 9.775, securing her first career event win.
“I’m so excited,” Poncin said. “It was definitely a rough start getting used to college and stuff, but I’m so glad everything’s coming together and I was able to get my career-high today.”
White chased with a 9.525, before sophomore Maria King netted a career-high of 9.750 to take home second place. Freshmen Avery Riiff and Makenna Brooks closed out the event with a 9.100 and a 9.650, respectively, the latter earning a fourth-place finish.
The only event the Huskies were bested on Saturday was the balance beam, where they posted a team score of 48.300. None of the first five routines scored higher than a 9.675 until Brown anchored with a season-high of 9.800 to achieve second place.
NIU closed out the meet with its strongest event: floor exercise. The Huskies totaled 48.675 as a team and saw five performers finish in the top four.
Riiff led off with a 9.700 to tie for fourth, and Harbeck shadowed with a 9.725 to match her career-best and earn third place. Wallace then matched Riiff to join a four-way tie. Following a 9.650 routine from Nickle, Brown claimed the floor title with a 9.800 at the No. 5 spot. White capped the performance with a 9.750 to earn second-place honors.
“I think we really were feeding off each other’s energy,” Brown said. “Floor is our strongest event, so it was just about time that we gave them the performance that we’ve been looking for.”
UP NEXT
The Huskies will try to build off that performance as they’ll stay home to host a dual meet against the Western Michigan Broncos (6-4, 1-1 MAC) at 6 p.m. Friday inside the Convocation Center. NIU also seeks its first MAC victory this season and to snap a three-meet losing streak to Western Michigan.
