DeKALB – NIU gymnastics is slated to play four competitions at home in 2024 after the team’s schedule was announced Friday.

“I’m very excited about the opportunities we’re going to have over the next year,” said NIU gymnastics head coach Sam Morreale in an NIU Athletics news release. “We are going to some perennial gymnastics powerhouses with meets at Missouri, Minnesota and N.C. State. Those meets will really challenge us so we’re looking forward to those.”

NIU opens the regular season on Jan. 6, as one of four squads competing at the Mizzou Invitational hosted by the University of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri.

The Huskies will be confronted with their first conference rival the following week in a road meet with Bowling Green State University on Jan. 13. 

NIU will then make its way to Nashville, Tennessee, for the USA Invitational on Jan. 19. The invite will pit the Huskies against MAC foes Ball State University and Kent State University, along with Southeast Missouri State University, Fisk University and the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater.

NIU returns home for back-to-back home competitions on Jan. 28 and Feb. 9. The squad’s first home event of 2024 will be a tri-meet versus conference crownholder Central Michigan University and Gustavus Adolphus College. The Feb. 9 meet will serve as the “Beauty and the Beast” meet – an annual collaboration between NIU’s gymnastics and wrestling squads.

“I’m super excited about the home slate this year,” Morreale said in the release. “The MAC home meets will go a long way in deciding our fate in the conference regular season. The competition has improved, and we will be tested each and every weekend.”

Regular season action continues with road meets at Kent State (Feb. 11) and Eastern Michigan University (Feb. 18). NIU will be back in DeKalb on Feb. 25 for a home tri-meet featuring Illinois State University, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and the University of Alaska Anchorage.

The 2024 slate also features two road quad meets in March. NIU will make the trek to the Tarheel State to compete alongside host North Carolina State University, Iowa State University and Temple University on March 2. 

NIU will hold its home finale in a meet against Ball State on March 10 before concluding the regular season on March 17 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. There, the Huskies will square off with the University of Minnesota, West Virginia University and the United States Air Force Academy.

NIU will compete at the MAC Championships hosted by Ball State on March 23 in Muncie, Indiana.

Prior to the regular season, the Huskies will take part in the annual Red/Black Intrasquad Meet at 6 p.m. Nov. 17 in the NIU Convocation Center. Admission to the event will be free for all attendees.