Tonight’s home gymnastics meet will be extra special for the NIU tumblers who competed on last year’s NCAA regional qualifying team.

In a pre-meet ceremony, the Huskies will receive their rings for the 1991 NCAA competition, in which the entire team qualified. Last year’s graduating gymnasts will also be on hand to take part in the festivities.

From there, it’s down to business, as NIU takes on Central Michigan University at 7 p.m. at the Chick Evans Field House. The Huskies are hoping to up their 9-3 record.

“Everyone is delighted to be home, which is incentive in itself,” coach Bobbie Cesarek said. “I think knowing that the end of the season is not far away, the girls know it’s now or never”.

“It’s time to turn on the heat. If we want our dreams to come true then we have to get the intensity up and raise our team scores.”

NIU’s 185.04 team average puts them in eighth place in the Central Region. The Huskies’ best events are the floor exercise, where they are averaging 47.16, and the vault (46.34). The squad ranks seventh in the region on both events.

Freshman all-around tumbler Tiffany Bollinger will be throwing a new vault tonight, which may be good for some additional points, while teammate Dayna Lia will be adding another double- back into her floor routine.

Nickie Pedicini, who underwent arthroscopic knee surgery two weeks ago, may be back in the Huskie lineup competing on the balance beam. Cesarek said Pedicini is making great progress toward complete recovery.