Jan. 25, 2008

DeKALB, Ill. - Fresh off an outstanding performance at league favorite Kent State in its 2008 season opener, the Northern Illinois gymnastics team makes its home debut this Sunday versus Western Michigan at the NIU Convocation Center.

The meet begins at 2 p.m. (CT). Tickets are on sale at the door for $5 for adults and $3 for children (17 and under). Admission is free for NIU students.

Northern Illinois came out of the gates with a team score of 192.675 last week, the best road score posted by any team in the MAC this season and the second-best mark overall. Led by all-arounder Leah Johnson (Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South HS), who was named the league's gymnast of the week after earning a 38.800 all-around score, the Huskies look to improve on that mark Sunday.

"We're coming off our longest road trip of the season against the top team in the conference and we had a great meet," said NIU Head Coach Mark Sontag, who is in his ninth season at the helm of the Huskie program. "[This team] knows they are the real deal, they can step up and get the job done. As good as we were [last week], we can be better. We had a number of misses. We want to be as perfect as we can be."

In addition to Johnson, who took individual titles in three events last week and was second in another, Sontag looks for freshman Holly Reichard (Palatine, Ill./Fremd HS) to push for top honors along with sophomore Natalie Blum (Homer Glen, Ill./Lockport Township HS) and junior Jennifer Naughton (Smithville, Mo./Smithville HS). Blum is coming off an NCAA Regionals appearance as a freshman and will compete in three events - the vault, floor exercise and uneven parallel bars - for the Huskies this year, while Naughton is also a veteran three-event performer in the vault, beam and floor.

"Leah and Holly are a tremendous one-two punch," Sontag said. "All the great teams I've seen had people pushing each other to be better, had that intrasquad rivalry to propel the team forward, and we have that this year in our all-arounders.

"I look for Natalie Blum to step up. She has been to NCAAs, and she could be our next all-arounder because she is right there on beam. Jennifer Naughton is looking better than I have ever seen her. She had a little bit of a miss on vault last week, so she will be looking to fix that."

Sontag and his gymnasts will focus on building on last week's performance in the familiar environment of the Convocation Center.

"We are always excited about competing at home," Sontag said. "We love our fans and we have so many local kids that there are a lot of area coaches and other gymnasts that come to the meets, along with the parents. It is great to be in an environment that is comfortable, but you still have to focus on getting the job done.

"Western is a very strong team. Any team in the conference is capable of [scoring] 193 so we cannot rest on our start, but need to keep building. My goal for this week is to take what we did at Kent State and be better."

Northern Illinois earned its top score of last season, a 194.375, last year at the Convocation Center versus Eastern Michigan. The Huskies fell to the Broncos in Kalamazoo by .275 points (192.775-192.500) a year ago.

Doors open at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Convocation Center for this year's Huskies-Broncos match-up. NIU will be at home again the following Sunday, Feb. 3 for a 2 p.m. meeting versus Ball State.

-- NIU --