DeKALB, Ill. – For the second consecutive year, Northern Illinois University junior Mia Lord has earned second team All Mid-American Conference honors, as the league office announced the 2020 MAC Gymnastics awards on Monday.
 
"It's nice to see Mia get recognized with this honor," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "She has stepped up to be one of our leaders and this would have been the second year in a row she would have been going to regionals. She works super hard day in and day out to be as good as she is on balance beam. The team knows that there is a consistent 9.85-9.9 score there at the end of the beam rotation, and they know it stems from her work ethic and her attention to detail in practice. She's super talented but also understands the work side of it."
 
Lord finished the 2020 season, which was cut short by the COVID-19 shutdown, ranked second in the MAC and ninth in the South Central Region on balance beam with a National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 9.870. She scored a 9.850 or higher on balance beam in six of her nine meets on the year, twice tying her career high mark of 9.900.
 
The Fishers, Indiana native was named MAC Specialist of the Week following her performance at Eastern Michigan, which included a career high 9.800 on vault and a 9.900 on balance beam that helped NIU's beam team break the school record on that event. The Huskies' 196.125 overall score that night was the second-highest in school history. 
 
Lord broke into the Huskies' line-up on vault as a junior and averaged a 9.65 on the apparatus from the leadoff position.
 
Her selection to the All-MAC second team marks the fifth straight year a Huskie gymnast has been named All-MAC, the longest streak in school history. 
 
"That's great and we want to keep it going," Morreale said. "It speaks to the expectation of the ladies. They want to be good, they want to leave a mark and propel this program forward. It's not like they chase the accolades, we don't revisit it every week, it's more about the process."
 
The All-MAC First Team and All-MAC Second Team are based upon the regular season scores from the National Qualifying Score (NQS).  The top NQS score in each event – vault, bars, beam, floor and all-around (including ties) – were named All-MAC First Team.  The second and third place NQS in each event (including ties) was named to the All-MAC Second Team.
 
-- NIU --