Keeping the momentum is key for the NIU gymnastics team as it heads into the Illinois State Championships on Saturday.

The Huskies will compete against the University of Illinois, Illinois State and the University of Illinois-Chicago in a quadrangular meet at 2 p.m. in Champaign.

During the regular season, NIU grabbed victories over Illinois State and Illinois-Chicago. However, it has yet to face U of I.

NIU head coach Mark Sontag said he hopes to see the gymnasts perform as consistently as they have in the past against ISU and UIC.

“We need to keep doing what we’ve been doing,” Sontag said. “We don’t want to fix something that’s not broken.”

Sontag said his team’s consistent effort has shown in its ability to win. The team is 9-2 overall, and 5-2 in the MAC, which has kept the teams’ confidence levels high, he said.

“I think the girls have a great deal of confidence right now,” Sontag said. “They know they can compete in a higher level of gymnastics. They are also confident coming off a win against one of the big teams in the MAC.”

With confidence high, Sontag expects every gymnast to play a crucial part in the upcoming meet. The key for the team, which is led by top scorers Leah Johnson and Holly Reichard, is to prevent weaknesses as a squad, Sontag said.

“Every gymnast we put out there is going to be key,” Sontag said. “It’s going to depend on who’s going to be the perfect team, and that’s what we are trying to do.”

A win at the State Championships would keep the team momentum rolling into the MAC Championships on March 29. Sontag hopes to see the team continue to hit their high–level routines and further develop their skills for the conference championships.

“We can’t do much about what the other team does,” he said. “But we can control what we do.”

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