July 13, 2015 The 2015-16 academic year begins in 42 days and UICFlames.com counts down the Top 25 Flames over the summer months (June 8-July 31). Each sport will be featured over eight weeks as we preview the upcoming year in UIC Athletics. In this installment of 'Top 25 Flames for 2015-16', we will look at women's gymnastics' junior Nicole Szabo. Szabo's 2015 season was highlighted by a fourth place finish on bars at the MIC Championships. The South African native's career-high score of 9.825 earned her a spot on the All-Conference Second-Team.
Earlier in the season, Szabo took home first place on bars (9.775) against Northern Illinois and was one of UIC's top finishers on bars at the Illinois versus Michigan Meet (9.800). She scored a 9.725 against Southeast Missouri and at the Illinois Classic.
Prior to the 2013-14 season, Szabo competed for South Africa at the 2013 Artistic Gymnastics World Championships. Szabo's performance marked her third World Championships appearance. In May 2014, She was featured on the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee's Road to Rio, a website that profiles athletes expected to compete at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Szabo also excels in the classroom as she took home 2015 MIC Scholar-Athlete honors. As a freshman in 2013-14, Szabo was selected to the All-Conference Academic team and was a Scholastic All-American honoree.
TOP 25 FLAMES
June 8 - Jake Dahlberg
June 10 - Stephenee Yancy
June 12 - Thomas Villamil
June 15 - Elaine Heflin
June 17 - Tai Odiase
June 19 - Ruvanna Campbell
June 22 - Michael Crepeau
June 24 - Brianna Hines
June 26 - Kei Ishimaru
June 29 - Kelly Fritz July 1 - Mitch Granger
July 3 - Jackie Altansarnai
July 6 - Trent Jarrett
July 8 - Kelsey Jensen July 10 - Kyle Hauser
