NIU’s men gymnasts begin their regular season Saturday, Jan. 9, in the Midwest Open Invitational at Chick Evans Field House.

The tournament begins with the preliminary round at 11 a.m. The top eight gymnasts from each event advance to compete in the finals at 7:30 p.m.

NIU Coach Chuck Ehrlich said he hopes the tournament will be a big success. The invitational disbanded about four years ago, but Ehrlich said he and his squad want to revive the competition.

“The Midwest Open used to be the largest open meet in the country,” Ehrlich said. “Hopefully we can bring it back to its past stature.”

While the meet consists of individual competition only, big-name teams will be sending highly competitive gymnasts to the NIU campus. The schools involved include Michigan, Michigan State, Penn State, Southern Illinois, Iowa, Illinois-Champaign and Illinois-Chicago. All of the schools are powerehouses in the gymnastic field.

“This region has the greatest number of national-level teams,” Ehrlich said. “We have five or six programs in the top 15 or top 12 in the nation.

“Students can come without paying and have the opportunity to see some good gymnastics. Students will be pleasantly surprised at the national quality.”

Ehrlich said he wants his team to add itself to the list of nationally ranked teams. Although he sent two of his gymnasts to nationals last year, this year his goal is to send the entire team. Ehrlich has not sent a squad to nationals since the early 1980s.

Finishing near the top in the invitational not only would be a good way for the team to start the season, but it also could help when national tournament time rolls around. Once the season begins, NIU has 11 weeks to prepare.

“We want to get back in the groove as a team,” Ehrlich said. “I think we’re on the right track. We are basically a freshman and sophomore team, so we are young and it shows the things to come.”

Two staples for the team include sophomore Carlos Fulcher and freshman Thomas Koll. Fulcher traveled to California last year to compete in the NCAA tournament and earned NCAA All-America honors on the vault. When tumbling during the Mixed Pairs Invitational in November, the Brazilian native helped his partner, Amy Taylor, take first place. He never scored below 9.3 in an event.

“We had between 750 and 1000 attend the Mixed Pairs Invitational, and 700 were students,” Ehrlich said. “It won’t hurt us to have another good turnout.”