Each meet in the relatively young NIU women’s gymnastics season has seen team and individual improvement in little steps. Saturday, the Huskies took a big step in development with a big triangular meet victory before the NIU home crowd at Chick Evans Field House.

NIU swept all five individual events to post a 182.75 team score. Winona State University chased the Huskies all afternoon, but fell short with 180.65 points. UIC was third with 171.45 points.

“We picked up our scores in the vault and uneven bars. It was a good meet and we didn’t pull out all stops—there’s a lot to look forward to in the next month of the season,” NIU women’s gymnastics coach Bobbie Cesarek said. The 182.75 Huskie final score established an NIU meet scoring record, one of three school records set in a triangular meet.

Sophomore Lori Lebo won four of the five individual events–vault, balance beam, floor exercise abd all-around. Her 9.65 vault score set a new NIU mark, besting the four-year-old 9.50 record held by Darlene Davis. Senior Martha Unger completed the Huskie sweep with her winning 9.45 score on the uneven bars.

NIU has a two-week break from competition before opening a seven-meet Mmarch slate hosting Big Ten conference University of Illinois March 4 at 1 p.m.