Senior gymnast Jennifer Naughton was named Gymnast of the Week, making it the fourth time a Huskie has been given the award. Naughton joins two-time winner Holly Reichard and Natalie Blum.

Naughton won the balance beam competition at the Illinois Classic, the unofficial state championships, last Saturday at the University of Illinois-Chicago with a career-best score of 9.925. That mark was also the highest score on any event by an NIU gymnast this season and is the third-highest balance beam score in school history.

Naughton now owns the top two scores on the beam in the MAC this season. At the Illinois Classic, her performance was part of a season-best 49.100 team beam score that helped lift NIU to a second-place finish in the meet. In addition to her beam work, Naughton earned her season-high score of 9.850 on the floor exercise to finish tied for fourth on that event. She scored a 9.725 on vault to post the second best mark of the day on vault for NIU.

The Gymnast of the Week award is the third MAC honor of Naughton’s career, but her first of 2009. She picked up a MAC Specialist of the Week honor in each of the two previous seasons.