DEKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois University senior women's gymnast Amanda Stepp (Lapeer, Mich./Lapeer East) earned her second-straight berth in the NCAA Regionals as the NCAA released the field for the 2015 Women's Gymnastics Championships Monday.

"I'm over-excited for her," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "As a senior, going out it's an awesome accomplishment. Two years in a row, getting back there, a great thing for her."

Stepp will travel to in Norman, Okla. on April 4 and will compete on the vault. Competition will begin at 4 p.m. CT. It marks the eighth time in the last nine seasons, and the 14th time in the last 16 years, NIU has sent at least one gymnast to the NCAA Regionals.

It has been an interesting senior season for Stepp, who competed on vault, floor exercise and balance beam once again in 2015. An NCAA qualifier on the floor exercise last year, she jumped out to a fast start, sweeping all three events in the season opener at UIC. However, after the third meet of the season, she suffered an injury and spent the next four weeks working her way back into the line up.

"She had that bump in the road in the middle of the season where we had to take some weeks off to rest her shins," Morreale said. "During that time off, she worked really hard to stay in shape and keep her mind in the right place. She made a great run down the stretch where she put four meets together with some really good scores.

Stepp was back competing in all three events in NIU's victory at Southeast Missouri State, winning both the vault and beam. She hit her stride when it mattered, down the stretch. She posted a career-high 9.900 on vault at the State of Illinois Classic. Stepp duplicated the feat the following week in the regular season finale against Eastern Michigan. In addition to scoring a 9.900 on vault to take first, she also recorded a career-high 9.900 on floor to win that event as well.

"It gives us incentive to get there next year as a team," he said. "It's a great showing for the program because we did have a great year this year. To get somebody to postseason is a great thing.

"We had arguably one of the best season's in NIU gymnastics history. We were chasing the team dream, and sometimes your individuals fall by the wayside. It's great to see Amanda get through."

A two-time MAC Gymnast of the Week, Stepp's NCAA bid adds to what has been quite a season for NIU (11-4, 4-2) in 2015. The Huskies clinched second place in the MAC and set the school record for team all-around score with a 195.800-195.525 win over Eastern Michigan in the regular season finale. It was the third time NIU topped the 195.00 mark this season, the most in one season in school history. The Huskies posted a 195.650 in its Tri-Meet victory, the second-highest score in school history, and a 195.400 in a win at Southeast Missouri State.

NIU gymnasts made their mark in the record book this season. In addition to breaking the all-around team score, NIU posted the second-highest vault (48.975) and floor (49.225) scores, the fifth best uneven parallel bars (48.950) score and cracked the top-10 on the balance beam with a 48.925.

Six teams will compete at each of the six NCAA Gymnastics Regionals that will be held April 4around the country. Mid-American Conference runner-up Central Michigan earned a bid as did 2015 opponents Iowa State and Illinois. The top two teams and top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional will receive an automatic berth to the national championships in Fort Worth, Texas April 17-19. In addition, the event winners at each regional site will advance to the national championships (in that event only) if they are not part of a qualifying team or an all-around qualifier.

-NIU-