DeKalb, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team returns home for the first time in a month on Friday when the Huskies play host to Illinois State in the NIU Convocation Center. The action gets underway at 6 p.m. and admission is free.  The meet can also be viewed live online on ESPN3.
 
While the focus on winning a MAC Championship, improving the team's National Qualifying Average and moving up in the national rankings remains, Friday's meet has an additional meaning as four Huskie seniors will be honored as part of the team's annual Senior Day celebration.
 
Over the last four years, seniors Emily Basara, Ally Ferber, Anna Martucci and Paige Nicholas have helped the Huskies to record-setting performances, 42 total victories, the best MAC Championship finish in school history and most importantly, to NIU Head Coach Sam Morreale, have helped build the culture for future success.
 
"This group changed the hierarchy," Morreale said. "They are a group that came in as freshmen and didn't necessarily like the built-in hierarchy of how things were and how freshmen were viewed. Every incoming class talks about how they are going to be different when they become seniors, but this group changed it. It's one thing to talk about it, it's another to implement it. They've helped build the culture, they've continued that positive momentum. The culture is huge, it's a big part of where our success comes from.
 
"Senior Day is bittersweet every year," Morreale continued. "It's awesome to see them grow up, mature and move through a program, but then you want them to stay, you want them to continue what they helped you build. These four arguably have been a part of the most records of any senior group, and they're not done. They're still pushing the envelope."
 
During the tenure of this quartet, NIU has earned eight of its top 11 team scores all-time, have broken the floor exercise record four times, including most recently at Ball State on February 17, and earned the school's highest finish at the Mid-American Conference Championship when NIU took second a year ago.
  
NIUHuskies.com recently had the opportunity to talk to the members of the 2019 NIU Gymnastics senior class about their favorite memories, and what the Huskie gymnastics program has meant to each of them.
 
EMILY BASARA (Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township HS)
 
What has NIU Gymnastics meant to you?
"Honestly [NIU gymnastics] has meant the world to me. I came in knowing that NIU gymnastics was going to be a really cool place to call home for me, especially because it is really close to my actual home in Gurnee. I also felt there was a really good team atmosphere, and I felt like Sam was geared toward making this team a family and that was something I had really hoped for coming in. Starting off my career was really rough because I tore my ACL right off the bat, so being out for that first season of competition, I was very upset and not handling it well. NIU and the girls on the team and Sam really just encouraged me and helped me come back even bigger and better and stronger and so this program has meant the world to me. It's kind of shaped who I am now. It's a huge part of who I am, just from battling back from injuries, fighting through, perseverance, learning how to handle adversity, has been huge for me and I wouldn't trade any experience I've had good or bad."
 
What has been your favorite memory of your time at NIU?
My biggest memory was in my sophomore year. My freshman year, I tore my ACL, and I was trying to come back. My first time actually competing any event at all was at Western Michigan my sophomore year. I was just doing bars, just exhibitioning bars which was a huge deal for me because that was the event I hurt my knee on. To come all the way back, fighting back from this injury and then I nailed my routine at Western in my first time ever competing. I was nervous as heck, but then I remember specifically sticking the dismount, and I started crying immediately and I was so overjoyed. My teammates surrounded me, and we had a huge group hug. That is one of those memories that will always stick with me because of how it impacted my life, and having those girls surround me and celebrating with me the full recovery back to competing, I would say that's my top memory from gymnastics."

ALLY FERBER (Woodbury, N.Y./Syosset HS)
 
What has NIU Gymnastics meant to you?
"It has been a learning process. It definitely taught me how to step outside of my comfort zone, and interact with people from different backgrounds that were raised differently. Being from New York and coming out to the Midwest was a bit of a culture shock at first, so I definitely learned a lot. [Being a part of the program has] impacted the way I appreciate the people I have in my life, the things that make me happy and being able to do the sport I love every day. I've learned so much about teamwork, working toward a common goal and motivating people around you."
 
What has been your favorite memory of your time at NIU?
"Definitely one I'll never forget is freshman year, before the first practice, the four freshmen, we hid in the bathroom because we were so scared. We went to go in the locker room and we heard one of the girls yell, 'don't come in'.  We got so frightened that we went and hid in the bathroom before the first practice. It always makes us laugh when we realize how far we've come here.
 
"Breaking the team record my sophomore year at CMU was huge. The fact that we broke the record was so amazing and so rewarding. Then this year at Ball State, we competed for not only Mental Health Awareness, but also for our coach's wife who was diagnosed with breast cancer and it really emphasized how gymnastics may be our whole life, but it's about so much more than just a sport, so much more than the scores you get or the events you compete, it's about the lives you affect by doing what you love."
 
ANNA MARTUCCI (Clarkston, Mich./Our Lady of the Lakes HS)
 
What has NIU Gymnastics meant to you?
"It's meant everything, because Sam [Morreale, head coach] and Nita [Teague, assistant coach] were the initial people to believe in me in my college career, and I've been able to prove it to them and this program that this is something that I was destined to do, and am super-passionate about. That's meant everything, and then the cohesion between all the girls on the team has been outstanding and has made every single year here so rewarding and fun."
 
What has been your favorite memory of your time at NIU?
I think my favorite memory is when Nina, my sister, committed here and seeing the girls adopt her as one of our own.  It was a time she really needed a program like NIU and it just meant so much to me that the team can fall in love with her as much as I fell in love with the team.
 


PAIGE NICHOLAS (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran West HS)  
 
What has NIU Gymnastics meant to you?
"I have just been really thankful to know that no matter what's been going on, in the gym, outside of the gym, academically, or anything else, I've had such great support.  I've always had 18-plus girls and my coaches really supporting me, seeing as I've been so far away from family, that's really been a great part at my success at NIU."
 
What has been your favorite memory of your time at NIU?
My favorite competition I would say was when we got to compete at Kentucky [in 2017]. It was great energy and a great crowd, it was really awesome to see our team against one of the best teams in the country. Then this year when the floor squad broke the floor record twice, that was really awesome to be a part of the group that was able to be in the record books for that."
 

While Friday's meet represents the last regular season competition for NIU in the Convocation Center this year, the seniors and the rest of the Huskies will play host to the 2019 MAC Gymnastics Championships in the facility on Saturday, March 23 at 2 p.m.. Tickets for the MAC Championships are on sale now for $10 for adults, $5 for youth and admission is free for all Mid-American Conference students. Click here to purchase MAC Championships tickets.  
 
-- NIU --