GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Northern Illinois University gymnastics team opened its 2022 season with a second-place finish at the Florida Quad Meet Friday night with a team score of 194.550 at the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
 
NIU earned its top score in a season opener since 2017, with the top five gymnasts on floor exercise combining for a 49.225 total, tied for the 10th-best team score on floor all-time.  The Huskies added a 48.800 on vault, a 48.525 on uneven parallel bars and a 48.000 on balance beam.
 
"This was a great start to the season for us," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "I am super-excited about where we can go from here.  We want to see us do the things we've done in our gym, and we saw that tonight.  Overall, I'm super proud of how we did, how we prepared and we're just scratching the surface. This is a great start to catapult us to where we want to go. Now we have to go out and prove who we are every week."
 
NIU's two NCAA Regional qualifiers from a year ago – all-arounder Tara Kofmehl and bars specialist Natalie Hamp – picked up where they left off. Kofmehl tied her career high on floor exercise with a 9.925 to place fourth on the event and tied for third on vault with a 9.825 to lead NIU on that event. She also took third in the all-around competition with a 39.050 total.
 
Hamp scored a 9.850 on uneven parallel bars to tie for third on her specialty. Sophomore Alyssa Al-Ashari and senior Morgan Hooper led NIU on balance beam as they each scored 9.825 to tie for sixth with Al-Ashari establishing a new career high on beam.
 
The Huskies did not count a score lower than 9.800 on floor exercise, their second event of the meet. In addition to Kofmehl's 9.925, freshman Alana Anderson made her NIU debut with a 9.875 on floor to tie for seventh, while senior Kelsey Martz scored a career-high 9.825 and freshmen Emmalise Nock and Isabella Sissi each contributed a 9.800.
 
"Floor was excellent tonight," Morreale said. "I am really impressed with that group; that's definitely one of our top season-opening scores on floor. Kelsey led us off with a really solid routine, we had three freshmen in the line-up that all hit, and Tara finished up and did what she does. It was fun to see them get rewarded. They deserved those scores."
 
In addition to the four freshmen who competed Friday, veterans Ciara Ryan and Liana Roman made their debuts in the line-up. Ryan, inserted into the vault line-up after a pre-meet injury, posted NIU's second highest score of the meet on the event with a 9.775, while Roman scored a 9.650 on bars after previously competing exhibition.
 
"We talked about our depth in the preseason, and we saw it come into play tonight after an injury during warm-ups," Morreale said. "It was nice to see how we were able to respond. Our freshmen are seasoned competitors, it's really exciting, especially in a really energetic, loud, raucous environment."

The Huskies (2-1) finished ahead of third-place Texas Woman's by nearly a point and were 2.475 points better than fourth-place Rutgers.  Florida, the second-ranked team in the WCGA preseason poll, won the meet with a score of 197.675.
 
NIU returns to action on Sunday, January 16 as they travel to Kent, Ohio for a tri-meet against Kent State and Illinois beginning at 1 p.m. (CT).
 
-- NIU --