The gymnastics team won Friday against the Southeast Missouri Redhawks in a head-to-head meet to improve to 9-3 on the season. The Huskies outscored the Redhawks 194.725-186.825.

NIU started strong on the uneven parallel bars. First-year Morgan Hooper placed first overall with a score of 9.800. Senior Emily Basara took second with a mark of 9.775 followed by junior Amanda Bartemio in third with a score of 9.750.

The Huskies had the top-five finishers in the event ending with an overall score of 48.675. The Redhawks finished bars with a score of 45.875.

NIU posted an overall score of 48.350 on vault compared to 46.375 event score for SEMO. Junior Cinny Lamberti finished first with a score of 9.800, Southeast Missouri’s first-year Anna Kaziska, Hooper and junior Nina Martucci following close behind tying for the second highest total with a score of 9.675. 

Head Coach Sam Morreale said he was impressed with his team’s performance, but did say there was room for improvement.

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“We’ve been training really well but when we got to actual competition we got a little tight and tried a little hard to do well,” Morreale said. “We landed decently but still gave a little way on landing and then also shakes in the air.”

The Huskies success continued on the balance beam with sophomore Mia Lord scored a 9.850 earning a first-place finish in the event. Following Lord was Kaziska with a score of 9.800. NIU won its third event of the meet outscoring the Redhawks 48.750-46.475.

NIU finished first in the floor exercise outscoring the Redhawks 48.950-48.100.Senior Ally Ferber tied for first with Kaziska with a score of 9.875. Behind the two was junior Allison Richardson with a score of 9.800.

“We worked really hard to get the score we did, and it didn’t come easy,” Morreale said. “We started really solid on bars to get it going, and did a pretty good job on beam finishing off. To start well and finish well are two really good things.”

The team is back in action for a MAC match 12 p.m  Sunday February 17, in Muncie Indiana against Ball State.