Sophomore wrestler Brock Hudkins and junior gymnast Anna Martucci were honored as “NIU Scholar Athletes of the Week” Tuesday.
Hudkins took second place in the 125-pound weight class Saturday at the MAC Championships. The achievement secured his spot at the NCAA Championships for the second consecutive year.
“Hudkins displayed a lot of guts in a tough situation,” said wrestling Head Coach Ryan Ludwig, according to a Monday Northern Star article. “After dropping his finals bout on a controversial score, he was able to keep his composure and win his true second bout to punch his ticket to Cleveland.”
Martucci, a gymnastics junior captain, scored a 9.975 on her floor exercise Sunday. One of the judges even scored her performance a perfect 10. Martucci’s performance was the highest individual event score in over 20 years.
“I got a really good opportunity to build off of what the team did,” Martucci said. “They all had a great run too. I commend [the judge] for being so brave and putting that score out. I knew it’d be a good score, but I wasn’t expecting that.”
Hudkins will begin his NCAA Championship run on March 15 in Cleveland, Ohio. Martucci and the gymnastics squad will be back in action 2 p.m. Saturday in Chicago at the State Championship Meet.
