DeKALB, Ill. – The Northern Illinois University women's gymnastics team takes on some of its toughest competition of the season Sunday when the Huskies welcome Mid-American Conference foes Central Michigan and Western Michigan along with perennial NCAA Regional participant Iowa State to the NIU Convocation Center for the Beauty and the Beast Quad Meet.
 
While the four gymnastics team compete on one end of the Convocation Center floor, the NIU wrestling team takes on SIUE simultaneously with the competitions getting underway at 4 p.m. Admission is free and fans can pick up a copy of a special edition Beauty and the Beast poster.
 
The meet has regular season MAC implications for the Huskies as the scores versus both league teams will count in the season standings. NIU is 1-1 in MAC meets so far this season, while CMU comes in with a 2-1 MAC record and WMU is 3-1.  The Huskies are 8-4 overall after splitting a pair of meets with Illinois State last weekend, earning the fifth-highest score in team history in Sunday's home win.
 
"We're in the second half of the season so the goal now is to replace those lower scores from early in the year," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "The two big scores help. This is a huge meet for us because it's a MAC meet for us with both Western and Central plus Iowa State, a Big 12 team that historically makes regionals. It will be a fun test for us. We want to win the MAC, and two of the top MAC programs are coming in so let's see where we stand with them."
 
Six different Huskies have earned a score of 9.900 or higher in 2022, with at least one 9.900 posted on each event. Four different gymnasts have earned the MAC Specialist of the Week recognition, with sophomore Alyssa Al-Ashari the latest to win the award after scoring a career best 9.925 on balance beam last weekend. Freshmen Alana Anderson and Emmalise Nock, seniors Morgan Hooper and Tara Kofmehl and junior Natalie Hamp have all earned a 9.900 or above at least once this season.
 
The combination of four gymnastics and two wrestling teams on the arena floor means non-stop action for fans during the Beauty and the Beast Meet. Wrestling will also honor its 2022 seniors prior to the meet.
 
"From a fan's standpoint, it's a fun atmosphere," Morreale said. "There is always something going on, and the athletes feed off the energy of the crowd. It's going to be a lot of fun."  
 
-- NIU --