Women's Gymnastics | March 10

DeKALB, Ill. ­– The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team (10-6-1, 4-2) makes its final trip of the regular season to Mount Pleasant, Mich. to compete against Central Michigan (8-4, 2-3) on Saturday at 1 p.m. CST.
 
"We feel really good finishing up the regular season," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "We've stumbled here a little on the homestretch, but in those meets, we've done a lot of really great things. That's what we're trying to build off of this week. We've put ourselves into a position that I don't know that the program has ever been in.
 
"We have a chance at being regular season Mid-American Conference Champions, though, our focus is not necessarily on that, but it is something that we talked about at the beginning of the year. It's out there for us to take, but we've still got to go out there and put on a really good performance.
 
The Huskies are currently tied for first in the conference with Eastern Michigan (10-4, 4-1). The Eagles traveled to DeKalb during February where the Huskies recorded EMU's only conference loss of the season meaning a win over the CMU Chippewas guarantees the gymnasts the regular season championship title.
 
NIU is pushing to accomplish what they set out to do at the beginning of the season on Saturday. The Chippewas are one of four MAC teams with a 2-3 record. CMU's two conference wins were against Western Michigan (Jan. 15) and Kent State (Feb. 19). Though, their record he Chippewas are not a team to bat an eye at after last week's 196.375 score win over Rutgers.
 
Coach Morreale believes the Huskies have a true chance at the title with this week of practices behind them.
 
"We've had a really good week of training, and they are primed and ready to go for the home stretch. We have a bunch that are trying to qualify for regionals, so this should help that. As a team that dream of making it to regionals is still alive if they put these final two meets together. We've just got to go out, have fun, and hit."
 
Huskie fans can follow the meet against CMU by watching the meet or by following live stats at CMUChippewas.com. NIU will also have updates on Twitter (@Niugymnastics).
 
-NIU-