NIU Gymnastics Still "Defending the Mission"

After winning the first Mid-American Conference Championship in school history in 2019, the Northern Illinois University women’s gymnastics team entered the 2020 season determined to “Defend the Mission” and keep the championship trophy in DeKalb.  Coach Sam Morreale’s squad, though, had an even bigger goal on its board – becoming the first NIU team selected to the NCAA Regionals since 1995. 

Of course, the Huskies never got the chance to achieve those two goals and that, according to Morreale, is “the what if part of it, the empty part of it.” 

With a roster featuring five seniors, a talented group of freshmen, and depth on all four events, the 2020 team brought a work ethic that matched its talent level and the confidence that came from winning the title the year before to the practice gym every day. 

Little did Morreale know that his team’s depth would be tested before the season even started. Heading into the season opener at Kent State, three of the Huskies’ five seniors – Amanda Bartemio, Cinny Lamberti and Nina Martucci – were sidelined.  With several gymnasts in new spots in the line-up, others in events they had not competed in before and two freshmen making their collegiate debut, the Huskies pulled off what Morreale called one of the biggest wins of the season with a narrow (.050) victory over the Golden Flashes. 

“At Kent State the first weekend of the year, what we were able to do there as we were really testing our depth, that might have been the biggest win of our season,” Morreale said. “That win was a wake-up call to us as a team. We thought we knew what we had going into the season, but to get that win, to solidify that belief and give us that confidence, we felt good about where we were.” 

That confidence was tested over the next two weeks as the Huskies struggled to put four consistent events together in losses to Western Michigan and Illinois State with scores hovering in the 192-193 range. 

“The loss at Illinois State hurt a lot because the wheels came off, we were not who we had trained to be,” Morreale said. “We did some soul searching after ISU going into the meet versus CMU. They’re (CMU) a perennial powerhouse, they were picked to win the MAC, but we also had people coming back and were back home.” 

The Huskies’ win over the Chippewas – and NIU’s first 195+ score of the season – restored the team’s belief.  More importantly, after going through the letdown after the Kent State meet, the gymnasts were determined not to make the same mistake. The team came into the next competition – at Eastern Michigan on February 7 – as energetic and focused as Morreale had seen. 

“That was our meet of the year,” he said. “Our energy, the passion, how they pulled for each other… I don’t know if it was because we had the week off coming up, but everything fell into place.”

When it was over, the Huskies had posted the second-highest score in school history – a 196.125 that was just .025 off the school record set at CMU in 2017. NIU closed out the meet with a 49.325 team total on balance beam to break the Huskies’ all-time best. Now Morreale’s only worry was that NIU would lose its edge and its momentum during the upcoming off week.

“We were on a roll after the CMU win and then the big score at EMU,” Morreale said. “At that point in the year, we were a regional hopeful and still contending for the regular season MAC championship. If we were going to get to regionals, we couldn’t afford to hit a valley.” 

The coach’s worries were unfounded, though, as NIU put together a solid four-event meet at George Washington with another 195+ score the next week. That was followed by a two-meet weekend that began with a Friday night dual versus Southeast Missouri in Nashville. 

In Nashville, NIU once again faced adversity as talented freshman Brookelyn Sears landed awkwardly on her bars dismount and had to be carried off with a season-ending injury. With late changes to the balance beam and floor exercise line-ups, the Huskies regrouped to finish with a respectable 194.775 score that would still help its national ranking. 

Less than 48 hours later, the 2020 Huskies put together their best home meet of the season while celebrating their five seniors in the NIU Convocation Center versus Ball State. 

NIU did not count a miss while posting scores between 48.850 and 49.075 on all four events for a 195.750 total, its second-highest score of the season that also tied as the sixth-best in school history. While the narrow loss to Ball State effectively knocked NIU out of contention for the MAC regular season title, the Huskies’ confidence continued to build. 

The Huskies nearly matched their Senior Day score five days later in a home meet versus Illinois State, with a 195.725. The floor squad closed out the meet with a season-high 49.225 mark in the win. 

NIU returned to the practice gym on Sunday, March 8 feeling good about its national ranking (39th) – just three spots out of a NCAA Regional qualification - and its momentum heading into the last regular 

“At that point, we’re trying to position ourselves not only for a potential spot in the NCAA Regionals, but for the conference championships,” Morreale said. “Coming out of the ISU meet, we were peaking at the right time, we were healthy, everyone was comfortable in their [line-up] spots. This group was priming themselves to make a run for that conference championship again.”

With NIU students on spring break, the team was practicing as a group during the week leading up to the BG meet. While arenas across the country started closing to fans and taking other precautionary measures to combat the spread of coronavirus, Morreale continued to communicate with Bowling Green head coach Kerrie Turner on the status of Saturday’s meet. Even as late as Thursday morning, she assured the Huskies’ head man that the meet would be held. 

That all changed just a few hours later. The Huskies had just finished warming up prior to practice when the text came in – the meet was off. Around the same time, MAC Commissioner Jon Steinbrecher was announcing the cancellation of the MAC Basketball Tournaments. 

Even before Morreale called his team together to deliver the news, the tears were flowing. A few hours later, it was official.Both the MAC and the NCAA canceled all Championships for the remainder of the year. The next day, the team gathered for what would be the final time. 

“That was a tough couple of days,” Morreale said of Thursday and Friday. “The girls’ biggest regret was, ‘I didn’t get to do that one more time.’  Nobody knew their last time was their last time. I wished we could go back and have that one last practice.”

Even though the season was unfinished, the 2020 season will be remembered as another step forward for the program. 

Even though the season was unfinished, the 2020 season will be remembered as another step forward for the program. 

“I’m going to remember the fight and the passion – the fact that this group put themselves in position to defend the MAC Championship,” Morreale said. “As a coach you can’t ask for more than that. No one took [the title] from us. We had swagger, we had belief and that’s the culture that the kids who’ve come through the program – including these 2020 seniors - have helped us build. Their attitude, their resilience is so strong that if they get knocked down, they don’t stay down.

“That’s what we’re taking into next year.  We’re still defending the mission.”