Kim Gotlund
After earning a career-best score of 39.075 in the final regular season all-around competition of her career, Northern Illinois University senior Kim Gotlund was named Mid-American Conference Gymnast of the Week Wednesday by MAC coaches.
Gotlund’s 39.075 all-around score in NIU’s meet at Arizona State topped her previous high mark of 39.025, set on Feb. 23, 2013.
She opened the meet by scoring a 9.725 on the uneven parallel bars in her first event, then earned her highest score of the year, and tied her career high, with a 9.800 vault. It was Gotlund’s best vault score since the 2012 season.
She added back-to-back 9.775 marks on floor exercise and balance beam as her scores ranked in the top three on the NIU team on all four events.
“She’s just a steady, steady gymnast,” head coach Sam Morreale of the all-arounder who has completed 150 routines in competition in four seasons at NIU. “She just keeps hitting and hitting. (Saturday) wasn’t even her best meet. Kim personifies everything I’m trying to build here. Kids with work ethic, who understand the team concept, who hit their stuff and do everything they’re asked to do.”
Gotlund’s honor marks the second time in her career she has won the MAC Gymnast of the Week Award and the first time this season she has been honored. For the season, her averages on balance beam (9.695) and floor exercise (9.733) lead NIU.
At Arizona State, Gotlund helped lead the Huskies to their second consecutive 195 team total. The 2014 Huskies became the first NIU team to reach the 195 mark twice in the same season.
Gotlund and NIU close out the regular season Saturday at the Mid-American Conference Championships in Ypsilanti, Mich. Eastern Michigan will host the seven-team competition at the Convocation Center at 1 p.m. (CT). Tickets are $10 for adults while youth, senior citizens, and MAC students with a valid school ID will be admitted for $5. Once the meet begins, live streaming of the championships is available online.
For more information on NIU gymnastics and Huskie athletics, visit www.niuhuskies.com.
