DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team kicks off its 2017 season with a home opener hosting Lindenwood, Iowa and Western Michigan, Sunday at 1 p.m. CST.
 
The Huskies' first look into the season is the first of three meets against Mid-American Conference foe Western Michigan. Although, NIU is less concerned with the teams they are competing against and are more focused on pushing themselves to achieve personal bests and high team scores.
 
"We are competing against ourselves every week," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "There are wins and losses connected to every competition, but we're chasing scores. If we win but score low, it doesn't really help us. For us we are chasing a higher score. Our goal is to put our best six up on every event no matter who we are facing."
 
Sunday's competition will debut four freshmen with Amanda Bartemio (Plymouth, Minn./Waysata) competing on the lineup for vault and floor as well as an exhibition on uneven parallel bars, Cinny Lamberti (Grayslake, Ill./Grayslake) competing on vault, Allison Richardson (Marysville, Ohio/Marysville) competing on uneven parallel bars as well as exhibitions on the balance beam and floor and Nina Martucci (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes) competing on the uneven parallel bars as an exhibition.
 
"We are very excited and encouraged by what the freshmen are doing and contributing," said Morreale. "They are going to compete for us. They've come in from day one ready to go. They've worked really hard to adjust to college gymnastics, to new coaching styles and different team dynamics. They've done a really good job of just coming in and being a part of what we've already created, but then making us better. That was the hope when we recruited them."
 
NIU returns 11 Huskies to compete on Sunday including five of last season's six regional qualifiers and alternates with Jamyra Carter (Ypsilanti, Mich./Huron), Megan Greenfield (Crystal Lake, Ill./Crystal Lake South), Andie Van Voorhis (Columbus, Ohio/Hilliard), Ashley Potts (Oakwood Hills, Ill./Prairie Ridge) and Anna Martucci (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes).
 
"With this being our first meet, it's just getting a measure of where we're at," said Morreale. "This group has come into the year with a really good mentality as far as what they want to accomplish.  We've done a lot of great things throughout the preseason. They've all worked super hard not only in the gym, but also in the classroom. We got the highest GPA in the department this fall, which is kind of cool to see, but we're looking for control in our form, our hits, our sticks, things like that. On Sunday, I'm just looking to see us do what we do every day."
 
Admissions to all home gymnastics meets are free to everyone. Fans who cannot make the event can follow the Huskies on NIUHuskies.com via All-Access, live stats and also on Twitter via @NIUScores.
 
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