After Sunday’s NIU gymnastics meet, Keri Saint addressed everyone at Victor E. Court and let them know what gymnastics has meant to her and her teammates. Sunday was Senior Day for the Huskies.

“Gymnastics may not have always been fun, but it always hit our hearts,” Saint said over the loudspeaker.

Despite NIU’s loss against Kent State in its final home meet of the season, the day held special significance for NIU coach Mark Sontag.

“I have an extra connection with these girls,” Sontag said. “This was the first class that I recruited and have seen from start to finish.”

Despite scoring a season-high 193.250, the Huskies (4-6 overall, 1-2 MAC) were outdone by a 194.800 from KSU (7-2, 4-1).

“It’s hard because we didn’t get the win,” Kristina Campos said. “At the same time we had probably our best meet all season.”

Campos was able to come away with the all-around title with a 38.900. She beat out KSU’s Carrie Mayle, recipient of the MAC gymnast of the week honors for the last two weeks.

“It just feels good that I could do whatever I could do to help out the team,” Campos said.

Although it was Senior Day, the Huskies still have five meets until the MAC championships on March 25.

As a team, NIU came away from the meet winning only the uneven bars. The scores in all other events have the Huskies positive for the future, however.

“We’re really excited,” Sontag said. “Yeah, we didn’t come away with the win but putting up these scores has put a little extra wind under the girls’ sails. We’ve proved that we can stick with the best in the MAC and we’re still going to get better.”