Huskie gymnasts swing past EMU

By Colin Decair

On Sunday the NIU gymnastics team finished a busy weekend at the Convocation Center with a 190.800 to 188.075 MAC win over Eastern Michigan.

The Huskies win completed an NIU sweep at the Convo, as men’s and women’s basketball and wrestling were all victorious on Saturday.

In NIU’s second win of the season, the Huskies had their second all-around titlist in Kristina Campos. The senior scored a total of 37.725, which placed 0.575 points in front of EMU’s Jolene Worley.

“I didn’t have a very good meet so I was surprised with the outcome of the all-around,” Campos said.

The Huskies (2-0) made a clean sweep of the competition, winning each individual category as well as the all-around. The meet featured three events in which the Huskies scored at least 48 points out of 50.

NIU’s Ashlee Williams only competed in one event against EMU because of minor injuries. Huskies coach Mark Sontag took advantage of the absence by giving some of the freshmen more experience.

“Ashlee has nothing seriously wrong with her; just a couple sprains,” Sontag said. “So we decided to let some of the girls have more competition time which will help us out down the road if someone gets hurt.”

Williams should be able to return to face Michigan State University on Sunday, Sontag said.

NIU’s Jennifer Rice won the floor exercise for the second consecutive time this season. The freshman also placed first in the balance beam. With Sunday’s win, Rice has totaled three event victories in two college meets.

“I’m glad to see Jennifer stepped up like she did,” Campos said. “It’s good to see that even our freshmen can step up and win on any given night.”