DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's gymnastics team opens a three-meet homestand this Friday, February 19 when they take on Eastern Michigan in a Mid-American Conference dual at 6 p.m. The meet will serve as the team's traditional "Pink Meet" for breast cancer awareness and has been designated "My Cause Night" where student-athletes and coaches will wear ribbons in different colors to designate diseases or causes which have meaning to them.
 
The Huskies (2-4, 2-2 MAC) will look to surpass its season high score of 194.800 set last Thursday at Central Michigan and get back on the winning track after dropping a pair of MAC road meets last week at CMU and Ball State. 
 
NIU and head coach Sam Morreale are still working toward a "24-for-24" meet with six hits on all four events, giving the scores the ability to build during a given rotation. NIU's top team scores on each event have come in four different meets. NIU earned its best score on vault in its last outing at Ball State with a 48.775, which matched its best mark on balance beam, set versus Western Michigan on January 24. The Huskies' floor squad posted a season-high 48.825 at home versus Bowling Green on January 31, and went 49.000 on bars for its highest total on any event, at Central Michigan.
 
Putting together results like that in any given meet would push the Huskies' score well above the 195.000 mark.
 
"We're just missing on consistency right now," Morreale said earlier this week. "It's not the same people missing on the same events, and we know the ability is there. I like how we train, we're putting in the work. We've had the individual high scores and individual wins; we have to get our full line to hit on all cylinders. Coming home for a few weeks will help us a lot."
 
Individually, junior Tara Kofmehl (Mesa, Ariz./Red Mountain HS) is coming off back-to-back 39-plus all-around scores and eight solid routines last week to earn the Mid-American Conference Gymnast of the Week honor. She became the first Huskie to be named Gymnast of the Week – which requires a gymnast to compete in at least three events - since Ashley Potts in 2018.
 
Kofmehl owns the Huskies' top floor score of the year, a 9.900 at Ball State which tied her career high. A pair of seniors – Mia Lord (Fishers, Ind./Hamilton Southeastern HS) and Zoie Schroeder (Champlin, Minn./Champlin Park HS) – own NIU's top scores on balance beam and vault, respectively, with both marks coming versus Central Michigan. Lord earned a 9.900 on beam for the fifth time in her career, and first time in 2020, at CMU, while Schroeder's 9.875 marked her career best. Sophomore Natalie Hamp (Ionia, Mich./Ionia HS) scored a 9.875 on uneven parallel bars versus Central Michigan for the Huskies' top score on that event.
 
Following the meet versus Eastern Michigan, NIU will play host to Kent State in a dual meet on Saturday, Feb. 27 to wrap up its MAC schedule. The Huskies will welcome Iowa State and Illinois State to the Convocation Center on Friday, March 5 to close out its home meet slate.
 
For the first time this season, a limited number of family members of participating gymnasts from both NIU and Eastern Michigan will be allowed in the Convocation Center on Saturday. Admission will be via a pass list only.  The meet will be streamed live on Huskie All-Access on NIUHuskies.com. Subscriptions are available for $6.95 (24-hour pass), $10.95 (monthly recurring subscription) or $89.95 (annual). To purchase, click here.
 
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