Gymnastics grabs senior night victory over ISU

By Maddie Barrett

Gymnastics competed in their final regular-season home meet Friday against the Illinois State Redbirds. The Huskies took time to honor their seniors Anna Martucci, Emily Basara, Ally Ferber and Paige Nicholas. The Huskies won 193.350-192.050.

NIU started on vault and finished the event with a score of 48.450, tying with the Redbirds. Junior Cinny Lamberti came in first for the Huskies with a score of 9.850. Coming in second was ISU junior Gabrielle Cooke recording a 9.775. 

On uneven parallel bars, the Huskies finished with a 46.675, just under the Redbirds score of 47.950. Placing first was ISU first-year Sofia Iribarren with a score of 9.825. Ferber had the high score for the Huskies, coming in fourth with a 9.700.

Head Coach Sam Morreale knows the team could have done better in the event overall.

“Bars was uncharacteristic for us,” Morreale said. “Bars is a solid, confident [and] great event for us so it was very disheartening to see that. In the gym and at practice in warmups we’re a much different group.”

The Huskies made their way over to the beam and came out on top 49.175-47.025 over the Redbirds. Mia Lord won the event with a score of 9.90, making this the Huskies’ third highest beam squad score since 2006. Coming in second was Martucci with a score of 9.850, finishing her senior season strong.

Related: Gymnastics set to honor its seniors

Morreale was proud of the performances on beam overall.

“I felt on beam we did a great job of settling into us,” Morreale said. “Obviously going above 49 for beam put us back in the hunt.”

On the floor exercise, the Huskies scored 49.050 while the Redbirds received a 48.625. Tying for first was first-year Tara Kofmehl and Cooke with scores of 9.850. Ferber came in third with a score of 9.825.

Basara’s said she was feeling a lot of emotions during her last home meet.

“I’m just so thankful,” Basara said.“I feel so blessed to be part of such an amazing team and to have [my] teammates and my team surrounding me that love me and have supported me through my entire gymnastics career. It feels really good to be ending on this great note.”

The Huskies are back in competition 2 p.m March 9 in Champaign against the University of Illinois fighting Illini, the Illinois State University Redbirds and the University of Illinois Chicago Flames.