Northern Illinois University gymnasts Natalie Hamp and Tara Kofmehl return to NCAA Regional competition for the second consecutive season when they compete in the NCAA Seattle Regional Thursday night in Alaska Airlines Arena.
Hamp and Kofmehl, who won individual event titles on uneven parallel bars and floor exercise, respectively, at the 2022 Mid-American Conference Championships in Ypsilanti, Michigan on March 19, will be in action on those events in the second section of the day in Seattle.
"Natalie and Tara had a great year; they were so consistent and those are the types of things you have to do all year to get into regionals," said NIU head coach Sam Morreale. "They've already shown what they can do and how well they can do it. They were first team All-MAC, MAC All-Tournament Team and MAC Champions. They're confident they trust themselves and they compete well, and that's been shown throughout the year."
Hamp, a two-time MAC Champion on bars who scored a 9.900 on the event at the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional a year ago, recorded National Qualifying score of 9.885 in 2022 with a season high score of 9.925. She won her second consecutive MAC title with a 9.900 on bars in Ypsilanti.
After earning a spot in Salt Lake City as an all-arounder, Kofmehl spent most of the 2022 season in the NIU lineup on balance beam and floor exercise. Her National Qualifying Score (NQS) of 9.920 led the MAC as she earned first team all-conference honors. She scored a career high 9.950 on floor at the MAC Championships and earned six scores of 9.900 or higher on the year. The senior from Mesa, Arizona, who also won the MAC vault title in 2021, scored a 9.875 on floor at the NCAA Regionals a year ago.
Morreale said Kofmehl was able to make a smooth transition from all-arounder to a multi-eventer.
"Sometimes it's hard to make that adjustment to [not being an all-arounder], because you're so used to doing all of it," he said. "I think she did an amazing job this year figuring that out. I think did by the time we got to [the MAC Championships], she established a nice little comfort level of how to how to still be at the top of her game."
In 11 seasons under Morreale, NIU gymnasts have been selected to compete at NCAA Regionals 23 times with at least one representative in each of the last eight regionals. Hamp and Kofmehl are the first Huskies to make back-to-back NCAA Regional appearances since Anna Martucci (floor exercise) in 2018 and 2019. That experience can only help in Seattle, Morreale said.
"We are just going to stay relaxed," he said. "We're going to stay even keeled like all year. The fact that they were [at Regionals] last year, I think it's going to help. Last year it was their first year in the bright lights and they still stepped up. I just want them to have fun. I want them to enjoy themselves, enjoy the experience, and enjoy the great gymnastics that's around them."
Only the top event specialist from both sessions who is not on an advancing team goes on to the national meet, leaving a very small window, especially at a Regional that includes five of the Top 20 teams in the nation.
"The dream, the ultimate goal is to get to Nationals," Morreale said. "Knowing that, it's a super small window. You basically have to win the event [at Regionals] and then win the tiebreaker. Coming out of MACs, they both want to chase greatness, they both want to do as well as they can. I think those targets they put out there last year on these events is kind of what they're swinging for. Natalie went 9.9 and Tara 9.875, so those are the two scores that they want to either repeat or build on. Saying that, they're both capable of perfection. I'm excited for them and I think they have a really good chance to do some big things."
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