NIU’s Genaro Severino should be feeling enough pressure already without the added burden of becoming part of NIU history.

Severino is competing in this weekends’ NCAA National Gymnastics Championships, a tough enough task for any freshman. But with the pending elimination of NIU’s gymnastics program, Severino has also been put in the position of being the last NIU male gymnast who’ll represent the Huskies in competition.

Severino, who’ll compete in the vault, is the last in a long line of Huskie gymnasts that have made their mark at the NCAA Championships. NIU has sent at least one competitor to the nationals for 17 consecutive seasons. The Huskies boast five national champions and 16 All-Americas during that time.

Now the 32 year-old line ends on the solid shoulders of the Port Allegre, Brazil native.

Severino’s coach, Carlos Silvestre, knows that his gymnast has a tough road in front of him. “I know Genaro’s physically prepared (but) at this meet, everyone competing is good, so the individual who is “on” and has a little luck will come out ahead.

“A lot depends on the rotation, scores tend to rise through the meet. First you must qualify for the finals and then you have to do it all again,” Silvestre said.

Severino advanced to the championships by finishing fourth in the vault competition at the NCAA Eastern Regionals earlier this month. Three other Huskies advanced to the Regionals, but Severino was the only gymnast who earned a berth in the Championships by finishing among an events’ top 12 finishers.

The Championship preliminaries take place Thursday, with the top eight qualifiers in each event advancing to the finals on Saturday at the University of Minnesota’s Williams Arena.