Gymnastics finished in sixth place at the MAC Championships on March 19 but is sending six gymnasts to the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional Championships — a program record.

Four of the gymnasts were sent as individuals and two were sent as alternates. The last time the Huskies sent five gymnasts to a regional was in when they sent 2004 season to the South Central Regionals.

NIU is led by senior Lauren Africano, junior Jamyra Carter, junior Megan Greenfield and sophomore Andie Van Voorhis, who will all compete in individual routines. Sophomore Ashley Potts will participate as an alternate on bars and sophomore Anna Martucci will participate as an alternate on floor.

“I’m excited as a coach,” said head coach Sam Morreale, according to an NIU Athletics news release. “This group and this team worked really hard all year. It’s nice to get to postseason as a reward for all that hard work. We talked as a group and they want to go do well, not just show up for the experience. They earned it, they deserve it and they want to make their mark.

To have the two alternates in Anna [Martucci] and [Ashley] Potts, it bodes well for the future of our program. When kids can go and experience a regional, they’re going to see that, as a team, we belong there. They’re going to bring that back and it’s just going to help us ten-fold next year.”

Martucci participated in 11 meets in her first year, earning a third place spot at the MAC Championships. She has a regional-qualifying score of 9.855. Greenfield finished with a 9.825 regional-qualifying score and Van Voorhis tallied a 9.815.

NIU will be joined by individuals from schools including Bowling Green State University, Boise State University, University of Illinois at Chicago and more. The regionals are set to begin at 4 p.m. Saturday in Tuscaloosa, Ala.