Huskies take third at Beauty and the Beast Quad Meet
Brookelyn Sears leads with third-highest all-around score in program history
Junior Ciara Ryan prepares to engage the handspring during a vault attempt at the NIU Beauty and the Beast Quad Meet in DeKalb. The Huskies took third place behind Iowa State University and Central Michigan University at the event with a team score of 195.500. Ryan finished with a vault score of 9.600. (Zohair Khan/Northern Star)
February 21, 2022
The NIU women’s gymnastics team finished third at the NIU Beauty and the Beast Quad Meet Sunday as they faced Central Michigan University, Iowa State University and Western Michigan University at the Convocation Center in DeKalb.
How it happened
It was an action-packed Sunday in the Convocation Center as the wrestling team shared the same floor as the Huskie gymnasts for the Beauty and the Beast Quad Meet.
Senior Gabby Welch and sophomore Brookelyn Sears led the way for the Huskies on vault, putting together a solid 9.800 to place them in a six-way tie for ninth place.
Sears, along with junior Natalie Hamp, put together a beautiful bars routine to place them in a tie for third place with a 9.900.
Sears moved on to the balance beam where she placed first with a 9.850 and freshman Ellery Werner scored a 9.825 to place in second.
Freshman Alana Anderson took second place on the floor routine, walking away with a 9.900 to take second place. Senior Morgan Hooper scored a 9.875 to take home fifth place.
Sears finished first in the all-around with a 39.375, marking the highest all-around score for a Huskie gymnast since Kristina Campos scored a 39.400 in 2004. Her score was also the third-highest all-around score in school history.
Thoughts from coach Morreale
On the team’s performance at Sunday’s meet:
“We were third. Am I disappointed? No, but do I feel like we needed to get a little more? Yes,” head coach Sam Morreale said. “In theory, what we did was great and I’m super happy with it. We’re gonna try to build on that and just try to keep going in the right direction.”
On Sears’ record-setting performance:
“Brookelyn’s a rockstar,” Morreale said. “She’s like a lot of the girls here. They work hard, keep their head down and they just show up. That’s the big thing with someone like Brookelyn. She had some injuries to start the year so it’s really nice to see her starting to shine.”
The end result
The Huskies finished the meet in third place with a 195.500, defeating Western Michigan with a score of 194.050. NIU fell to Central Michigan’s 196.125 and Iowa State’s 196.275.
NIU will be back on the mat at 6 p.m. Friday when the Ball State University Cardinals visit the Convocation Center.