The NCAA women’s gymnastics regional meet wrapped up Saturday afternoon in Champaign, Ill.

While this means little for the NIU gymnastics squad as a whole, it featured two members of the team, both sophomore all-arounder Kim Gotlund and senior specialist Tanya Rachan.

Gotlund rotated through with host school U of I, and she posted one of her best scores of the season in 38.475.

“It was a lot of fun,” Gotlund said. “U of I was really supportive and made it a fun experience. I went out and gave it my all.”

Rachan did not post as good of results as she would have liked or expected from herself, scoring a 9.225 on floor in her one shot routine. This score marked the lowest score of her entire season as a senior.

“I keep telling myself that I made it and that it was a huge accomplishment,” Rachan said. “It’s unfortunate the first time I made that it I’m a senior; I don’t have another chance. No excuses, but the pressure got to me a little bit. I was the last one to go and all eyes were on me.”

NIU coach Sam Morreale said while it wasn’t quite what he wanted to accomplish, this season was a step in the right direction.

“This season was definitely a huge step for us,” Morreale said. “Our goal was to get to the NCAA Regionals as a team. But at the same time, it justifies what Tanya and Kim have been doing all year. Week in week out, they got it done.

Both Gotlund and Rachan received support from some of their teammates who made their way down to cheer on their roster mates.

“Just to have that support there meant a lot,” Rachan said. “I would definitely tell any of our underclassmen to go and just watch regionals. It’s an atmosphere that’s so different. With these top-ranked teams, you don’t really know how you’re going to feel when you’re put in that situation.”