Women's Gymnastics | March 4

DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team takes the short trip to Illinois State University in Normal, Illinois to compete in the Illinois Classic quad-meet with the University of Illinois and the University of Illinois-Chicago on Sunday. The competition begins at 2 p.m.
 
"This is a fun meet for us every year," said head coach Sam Morreale. "It's nice, as a state, that we still get together to do this. There was a time when the BIG10 adjusted their meets and it was almost cut from the schedule, but the four schools got together and moved it to another weekend to make sure we could keep doing it.
 
"It's a great chance to showcase the four schools that are in-state. It's a good recruiting opportunity, getting kids from the different areas to come out and watch the four teams compete. A lot of these gymnasts know each other and have competed against each other for a long time."
 
The Huskies competed against Illinois last weekend at Kentucky where the vault squad posted the NIU record of 49.100 after the previous record was set at 49.000 during the 2013 season. The Huskies are hoping to keep the success of the vault squad last weekend rolling.
 
NIU didn't finish with a total score that they were expecting, but has a chance to redeem themselves this weekend and get back to the 195.00 scores that they had been posting a couple weeks ago.
 
"We're feeling really good," said Morreale. "This time of the year, we're just building off what we did the week before. Obviously, this time we have a lot to build off of, but we did a great job on vault, setting the school record. They pulled that out of the rut that we were in last weekend. After looking at the film, we really were not bad. We just weren't as good as we had been the last few weeks. This week we focused on smoothing out some of those edges and get some confidence back. We are still in a really good place."
 
Sophomore Anna Martucci (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes) will be returning to competition on Sunday after missing three meets due to illness. Martucci last competed against Bowling Green (Feb. 3) where she recorded a career high 9.925 for the highest floor score since 2003.
 
To catch the Huskies in action, ISU will be streaming the meet at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also follow the Huskies on Twitter (@NIUGymnastics) and Facebook by liking the Northern Illinois University Gymnastics page.
 
-NIU-