DeKALB | The Huskie Athletic Scholarship Fund invites all Huskie fans to chow down before the NIU Football Spring Game on Saturday, April 21, at Huskie Stadium.

The competition to determine the best Huskie tailgate team will start at 10 a.m. and end just before the 1 p.m. kick off. Fans will be able to sample food from 14 teams of cookers and then vote for their favorites in categories including Best Huskie Tailgaters, Best Huskie Theme, Best Huskie Cook and Best Huskie Spirit.

It will cost $10 per person to join and includes all food and drinks. All proceeds from the event will benefit the HASF.

Heading to the NCAA’s

Despite finishing in fifth place with a score of 192.950 at the MAC Gymnastics Championships, the Huskies are sending Leah Johnson and Natalie Blum to the 2007 National Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics South Central Regional in Tucson, Ariz. on April 14.

Johnson finished fifth in the all-around at the MAC Championships and earned a third-place finish on the vault. Blum never scored below a 9.6 in 10 outings on the floor exercise. Jody Yednock and Jennifer Naughton were chosen as alternates for the uneven parallel bars and balance beam, respectively.

“It’s always a positive to have individuals selected to the NCAA Regionals because one of our goals is to compete in the postseason,” said NIU coach Mark Sontag. “Leah has been dominant all year and to go in ranked second as an all-arounder in the regional really is icing on the cake for her.”

A step in the right direction

The NIU (5-7) men’s tennis team picked up a much-needed 6-1 victory over Western Illinois (7-6) last Thursday, March 29.

Alex Friesen, Adam Ford, Jimmy Chu, Diego Zegarra-Ballon and Javier Bernabe each picked up wins in singles matches.

Just shy

The NIU (4-6) women’s tennis team dropped a 4-3 decision to Southern Illinois in Carbondale this past Saturday.

The Salukis won the final two matches to pick up the win. Sophomore Jenny Edner picked up two wins to pace the Huskies.

“The effort was amazing,” said coach Ryun Ferrell. “We played for over five hours. I liked it, but we just came up short, again.”

A good showing

The NIU women’s track and field team took third place at the Toledo Collegiate Challenge.

Senior Ashley Morrow got the Huskies going by earning a first-place finish in the hammer and discuss throw. Also, freshman Jessica Statler took first place in the high jump with a leap of 5 feet 7 inches.

Lorene Skipper, Coretta Evans and hurdler Carolyn Vasquez all took second in their events while sophomore Meghan Ginter earned a second-place finish in the 2,000 steeplechase with a time of 7:21.54.