UIC's women's gymnastics team started the 2018 season with a very competitive showing in a triangular meet with NC State and Northern Illinois.  The Flames finished second out of the three teams, besting NIU by nearly a full point and falling just 0.5 short of the Wolfpack.

"It was a very good start to the season for us," co-head coach Peter Jansson said.  "We were leading and then tied with NC State for the first three events and ended up second, which is a very solid start."

Rotation 1 – Bars

• The Flames were the top team on the bars, finishing with a team score of 48.550 to top NC State's 48.350 and NIU's 48.125.
• Serena Baker was the team's top finisher, posting a career high-tying score of 9.825 to tie for first.
• Katie Snyder and Toni Alicke finished fifth and sixth respectively, giving the Flames three of the top six scores.
• "Serena winning bars was very exciting after coming back from an injury last year," Jansson said.

Rotation 2 – Beam

• Freshman Kayla Baddeley made an impressive debut, winning the balance beam with a score of 9.825.
• Mikailla Northern was third at 9.775 and Riley Mahoney was sixth with 9.700, setting a new career high.
• The Flames' team score of 48.475 earned them first place on the apparatus.
• "Being the top team in the competition on bars and beam is something we are very proud of," Jansson stated.

Rotation 3 – Floor

• Northern paced the Flames on the floor exercise, finishing in a three way tie for first with a 9.800.
• Two freshmen, Ashley Albrecht and Baddeley, were the team's next two highest finishers.
• Jansson was encouraged by the strong performances of the two rookies.  "Miki Northern showed up as usual, but our freshmen Ashley Albrecht and Kayla Baddeley definitely made an impact in their first collegiate meet," he said.

Rotation 4 – Vault

• Northern once again finished very near the top of the standings.  Her score of 9.775 was just shy of NC State's first place score of 9.800.
• Baddeley turned in her second top-six placement of the meet by posting a 9.725.
• NC State had placed four vaulters in the top eight, leaving UIC little room to make up their deficit in the team standings on the final rotation.

All Around

• Northern finished tied for second in the all-around with a cumulative score of 38.975.
• Albrecht was right behind her in fourth place with a 38.400.
• Jansson was very pleased with his team's performance.  "It was an overall great start to the season that should have lots of great things to come," he said.

Up Next

• The Flames will take on Western Michigan next Sunday in the first dual meet of 2018.
• The meet will start at noon Central.
• It will be the first of two meetings this season, both of which will take place in Kalamazoo.