Who said March Madness is restricted to NCAA basketball?

Not the NIU gymnastics team.

With four meets remaining—beginning March 5 at home (last three on the road)—the ladies are looking to transpose their success into a regional bid at Louisiana State University come April 3.

Seven schools will receive a well-earned bid to Baton Rouge. The first place squad will then travel on to compete with the remaining four regional winners at Oregon State University for nationals.

The way it stands right now, NIU would be making plans for the Creole State journey. That is, if the season ended today.

The two best home scores, the two best away, and two other optional scores are used to determine who moves on and who moves in for the summer. Those six tallies are averaged and the seven best averages will lineup at LSU.

Right now, the University of Alabama, with an average of 194.76 points per meet, would easily lock the No. 1 seed and, barring any extraordinary circumstances, will finish atop the Central Regional.

Auburn University (191.27), the University of Michigan (191.21) and LSU (190.52) have unofficially clinched positions as well.

The three remaining windows of opportunity could go to any of five teams.

Southeast Missouri State (189.69), NIU (188.26) and the University of Missouri (188.23) join Michigan State University (highest score is 190.05) and Central Michigan University (high score is 189.20) in the unconventional pentangular of bid-seeking institutions.

Dark horses include Illinois State University, the University of Iowa and Iowa State University but that trio would need a handful of 189-plus tallies to partake with the elite.

Regional competition is not unfamiliar territory to NIU. The Huskies finished fifth after earning the No. 5 seed in the 1991 Regionals at Auburn.

That year, five current Huskies (Vicki Thimgan, Dayna Lia, Sheryl Kurowski, Sandy Escobar, Nicki Pedicini) experienced the thrill of post-season while Thimgan can boast individual competition as a freshman in 1990.

“I think that (the gymnasts) are exuding some confidence,” Huskie head coach Bobbie Cesarek claimed. “Not overconfidence, but confidence in their abilities and their abilities to act as a team.

“They have definite plans to be in Louisiana on April 3.”