Gymnastics Closes Out Regular Season at Northern Illinois

Gymnastics Closes Out Regular Season at Northern Illinois: The Eastern Michigan University gymnastics team closes out its 2015 regular season with a Mid-American Conference meet against the Huskies of Northern Illinois University Sunday, March 15. The meet will mark the third-straight competition on the road for EMU as they have been away from the friendly confines of the Convocation Center since Feb. 22.

EMU Defeats Michigan State for the Second Time in Program History: The win over the No. 23 Spartans marks the first time Eastern has defeated a ranked team this season and only the second time in program history that the Green and White has downed MSU as Michigan State held a 35-1 all-time record over the Eagles prior to the meet. Furthermore, the win over the Spartans is the first time an Eastern team has defeated a ranked team since at least 2006 when gymnastics records began being posted online.

Breaking the 195-Point Plateau: The 2015 Eastern Michigan gymnastics team has been all about breaking barriers this season under first year Head Coach Jay Santos, including tallying a EMU school record breaking 195.575 against Western Michigan, Feb. 20.
   Not only have the Eagles broken the school record this season, but they have also posted the best record of any gymnastics team at Eastern Michigan in the past nine years and have broken the 195.000 plateau on five separate occasions. Prior to the Green and White's 195.250-192.425 win over Bowling Green State University, Jan. 24, the Eagles had not broken the 195-point barrier since the 2004 campaign when they tallied a then-school record 195.550 at the Mid-American Conference Championship, March 19, 2004.

Eastern Comes Up Big in Final Two Rotations at MSU: After starting off the meet a little shaky on the beam, the Eagles to put together two season-best performances in their final two rotations of the night at the Michigan State Quad Meet, March 6.
   In its third rotation, the team had a big showing on the vault with a season-best 48.900 and senior Anna Willette tying her career best of 9.875
   As has been the story of the season for the Eagles, the Green and White topped its previous season-best with a 49.025 on the bars in its final rotation, led by Lacey Rubin and Kendall Valentin, who earned identical 9.850s on the apparatus to tie for third place.

Green and White Sees Six Career-Best Performance in East Lansing: Much like the earlier part of the season, Eastern always comes up big in its final two rotations of the meets and the Michigan State Quad was no different. The Eagles saw season-best scores on both the vault and the bars to close out the meet and also had six career-best individual performances.
   First on the vault, senior Anna Willette placed third tying her career best with a 9.875, while freshman Julia Schwartz followed it up with a fifth-place finish and a career-high 9.825. To cap off the rotation, senior Paulina Miller also tied her previous career best with a 9.750.
   In the final rotation, EMU again topped a season-best with a 49.025 on the uneven bars and had three more career-best performances. Lacey Rubin and Kendall Valentin tied for third overall with identical 9.850s in the final event of the night. The mark was a career best for Rubin and tied a career high for Valentin. Tying for eighth overall with matching 9.800s were Catie Conrad and Willette. The score was a career best for Conrad, topping her previous career high of 9.775.

NIU Ready to Host the Eagles: Northern Illinois comes into the Sunday dual with a 10-4 overall record and a 3-2 record in Mid-American Conference action. However, the Huskies are comfortable at home, posting a 6-1 record and suffering their only loss to Illinois, March 7. NIU is averaging a 194.723 on the season, but has broken the 195-barrier on two occasions, including a season-best 195.650 when its took on both Bowling Green and Alaska in a home tri-meet, Feb. 15.
   Northern Illinois is led by Megan Geenfield on the vault as she averages a 9.780 on the apparatus and has captured four titles this season, while Ashley Potts tops the vault lineup, averaging a 9.782 and placing second three times. In the final two rotations, Amanda Stepp highlights the beam for the Huskies, averaging a 9.725 this season with two titles, while Courtney Dowdell carried a team-best 9.707 average on the floor and is the lone all-around competitor for NIU.
   Dowdell competed in the all-around competition in the first four meets of the season, but recently has taken the beam routine out of her rotation to compete in just three events for the Huskies. In her four all-around competitions, Dowdell averaged a 37.600 and a season-best 38.125 for a second-place finish against Lindenwood, Jan. 23.

On the Horizon: Following the meet at NIU, Eastern Michigan will have one week to prepare for the 2015 Mid-American Conference Championships hosted by Kent State University, March 21. The Eagles will look to improve upon a sixth-place finish from a year ago when they hosted the 2014 MAC Championships at the Convocation Center, March 22, 2014.

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Players Mentioned

Catie Conrad

Paulina Miller

Lacey Rubin

Jules Schwartz

Kendall Valentin

Anna Willette

Eastern Michigan Athletics