An injury during an athlete’s last season of eligibility hurts more than just physically, but senior team captain Megan Melendez didn’t let that drag her season down.

Melendez has had her fair share of injuries, including two torn ACLs, but when she encountered plantar fasciitis, a foot injury, her senior season, it almost ended her year.

“It had been bothering me for a while,” Melendez said. “I guess I had enough; it was my body telling me that I need to lighten up on it. When it happened, I was upset because it was my senior season. I didn’t want to let the team down, and no one wants to go out on an injury.

Melendez was forced to sit out her freshman year with an ACL injury, but since then she’s been one of the Huskies’ go-to gymnasts with accolades including a win for Co-MAC Specialist of the Year in 2012 and earning spots on the All-State team in 2013 and 2014.

“Coming into NIU, she was one of the best in the nation,” said head coach Sam Morreale. “She could be on any of the top 10 or 15 teams in the country. It’s nice to see her getting recognition.”

After coming down with plantar fasciitis in just the second meet of the year, Melendez was unable to return until nearly a month later at the State of Illinois Classic Feb. 21. She wasted no time getting back to midseason form.

Melendez put up a career-high 9.85 on bars and then a 9.9 on beam, another career high. It was also the best beam score for a NIU gymnast since 2009.

Morreale wasn’t surprised with how well she performed upon her return, given that she’s one of the most talented gymnasts he’s coached.

“She’s a rock star,” Morreale said. “She has a bunch of talent, and she knows it, but doesn’t flaunt it. There’s a definite wow factor when you see her perform.”

The injury upped the ante for Melendez, as she had to make up for lost time in her senior season and work to make one last big impact for the team.

“It’s really a different mentality of giving it your all; really, we have nothing to lose,” Melendez said. “This is it, so we just want to leave our mark. Gymnastics is a tough sport, mentally and physically. Now more than ever, we’re just enjoying getting out there and competing.”

With only one meet left in her NIU career, Melendez is determined to end it with a MAC Championship, no matter how it happens.

That’s what’s exciting about the MAC Championships, because really anything can happen,” Melendez said. “One fall from the top team can put us in a place to take the championship. So we’re hoping that’s what happens because we’ve definitely been working hard all season and it’s possible.”

Winning the MAC Championships would be a step in the right direction that Melendez and her fellow seniors, Kim Gotlund and Natasha Jufko, believe they’ve steered the team to. Melendez hopes the underclassmen are able to keep the team set in the winning ways established this season.

“I like to think that we are setting an example for them,” Melendez said. “I think that in some way … we can motivate them to push NIU. Historically, NIU has never won MACs as a team before, so I hope that we are giving them motivation to beat those school records and do something new and make the program take a turn that it’s never taken before.”