The Pioneers’ gymnastics team continued their strong play Saturday evening, posting a convincing 197.00 to 193.525 victory over the visiting Huskies of Northern Illinois University. This victory came a week after a crucial victory over UCLA, then ranked seventh in the nation.
From the start, it was apparent that the momentum gained from the UCLA victory carried over to this meet.
The Pioneers got off to a fast start Saturday, posting a score of 49.2 on the first event of the meet, the vault. Courtney Butler, Heather Huffaker and Casey Dobyns all tallied scores of at least 9.9 on the vault for the Pioneers.
In the second rotation of the meet, the Pioneers pulled away.
The Pioneers, who were on the uneven bars, took advantage of numerous NIU missed landings on the vault. Nikki Brown and Butler’s standout scores of 9.9 helped the Pioneers achieve a final score of 49.2 for the second rotation.
Huffaker continued her strong night with a solid score of 9.775. Both vault and uneven bar scores were a tenth of a point off the Pioneers’ season highs of 49.3.
“A fast start is extremely important because it sets the tone for the rest of the meet,” said Huffaker. “When we come out slow, which happens, we are pressured to make up for it in the later rotations. When we come out strong, we can use that momentum to get higher scores later in the meet.”
And the Pioneers did just that. They used the momentum gained from the first two rotations to seal the deal, setting team highs on the balance beam and the floor routine.
Brown, a sophomore from Louisville, Ky., turned in flawless performance on the balance beam, earning a score of 9.975.
“Coming off the UCLA win, we were all real focused. I put in quality time at practice this week, and everything just clicked,” remarked Brown on her beam performance.
Ellen McCarthy and Huffaker helped the Pioneers to a final score of 49.25 on the beam, with scores of 9.875 and 9.825 respectively. A few NIU errors in the floor routine enabled the Pioneers to widen the lead to three by the end of the third rotation, 147.650 to 144.650.
The last rotation of the meet featured Denver on the floor with NIU on the beam. NIU saved their best for last, earning a 48.875, their highest rotation score of the night. But it was too little too late. Sasha Sullivan, who took home the floor exercise title last week against UCLA, continued her dominance, turning in an error-free performance that earned her a 9.925.
Jessica Lopez and Huffaker enabled the Pioneers to earn their highest rotation score of the night, a 49.350, with scores of 9.9 and 9.850 respectively.
Overall, Huffaker, a senior from De Soto, Texas, posted a 39.375 score in the all-around competition. Apparently, the pressure of having to perform in all four events is not a factor for Huffaker.
“It actually helps take the pressure off me,” said Huffaker. “Since I compete in every event, I don’t have time to worry about my next performance. It forces me to concentrate on the current event.”
The effects of the victory over UCLA were obvious in the Pioneers dominating win Saturday. “Our season was building up to the meet against UCLA. It was definitely a good win,” remarked Brown. However, “we were a little sloppy against UCLA but did what we had to to get the win. Tonight, we were real focused on just coming out and getting the best possible score.”
Huffaker echoed her fellow captain’s comments, saying that “the win over UCLA was extremely motivating, but tonight we were more concerned with achieving a high score.”
Brown also hopes that “we can use the momentum gained this last week to take us where we want to go at the end of the year, and that’s Nationals.”
Come out Sunday, March 11 to cheer the gymnatics team on to Nationals as they take on the University of Illinois at 6 p.m. MT.
