NIU women’s gymnastics coach Bobbie Cesarek and her squad could not have asked for a more pleasing season finale this weekend.

The Huskies stole the show in the Midwest Independent Gymnastics Championships after registering a season-best 189.15 Saturday afternoon at Chick Evans Field House. Their score earned them the first-place trophy for the outing.

Southeast Missouri State University finished behind NIU with a 188.85 tally while Illinois State University took the third spot, 185.00. Winona State University finished in fourth with a 181.25, and University of Illinois-Chicago’s 180.00 mark gave them last place.

“It was certainly wonderful to finish the season with the highest score of the year,” Cesarek said. “We’ve been working hard all season long, and we kept seeing improvements as the year progressed.

“This is the way to do it. I’m ecstatic with the way we performed.”

NIU’s lone senior, Lori Lebo, closed out her career at home with some impressive tallies.

Lebo registered a new team record on the floor exercise after tumbling for a 9.80 and also tied her own school mark on the vault with a 9.75.

“My hat goes off to Lori,” Cesarek said. “We’re going to miss her. She’s not only an excellent gymnast, she is one tough competitor.”

Behind Lebo’s 9.8 on floor which was good enough for a blue ribbon, NIU had two other gymnasts take the next two spots for the sweep. Junior Vicki Thimgan registered a 9.75 for second and teammate Dayna Lia took the third spot with a 9.70.

Lia also tied her season-best on the vault after hitting for a 9.70 in the Huskies last event of the day. Her mark was good for second-place honors. NIU’s Nickie Pedicini also had a piece of the limelight with her 9.75 on the uneven parallel bars which gave her a three-way tie for first place.

“This was definitely a team effort,” Cesarek said. “We had a lot of fun not only competing today, but putting the whole tourney together.

“It was a lot of work, but if I didn’t enjoy putting on a product like this I wouldn’t have done it. Hopefully all the gymnasts enjoyed it as well as the fans.”

The victory was also satisfying for the Huskies given the fact that they beat Southeast Missouri State. The Otahkians kept last year’s NIU squad from compiling a perfect season when they defeated them in the exact same meet held in Missouri. Southeast Missouri tallied for a 190.15 in that meet while NIU scored a 189.55.

Now that all the tallies are in for the Huskies, their future no longer remains in their hands.

NIU still has a chance to receive an invitation to the regional tournament on April 11 if its average tally is one of the top seven in the Central Region.

“There is still an outside chance we could get invited as a team, but it is kind of small because the competition this year has been so strong,” Cesarek said. “We’re also looking for Vicki Thimgan to qualify as an all-arounder, so we’ll see what happens.”