The Illinois women’s gymnastics team opened its season with two meets during this winter break.

The team earned a second-place finish with a 194.200 in its first meet against Missouri.

Head coach Kim Landrus said that her team’s first meet did not go the way she and the team had planned, but there were some positives to take away from the competition.

“I was proud of the way the team bounced back on the beam,” Landrus said. “I think we became better because of that meet.”

Illinois’ next contest was the Illini Quad meet last weekend. Illinois scored a 195.900 and earned  a victory over Eastern Michigan, Rutgers and UIC.

“I was super proud of (my players) this last meet,” Landrus said. “They thought about what they could do better. Some words we’ve been using is attention and believe. I was extremely happy to see what we had been talking about.”

Out of all the gymnasts last weekend, sophomore Lizzy LeDuc led the way for the Illini with her four titles.

“We have always known that LeDuc was a great performer,” Landrus said. “She is honestly just so talented. It was nice to see her go out and really perform her best in all four events.”

Illinois will take on Michigan this weekend in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

The Illini are looking forward to the rematch after losing to the Wolverines last season.

“I think our home opener was definitely a starting point for us,” LeDuc said. “I was really happy with how we did at that meet, but there’s always room for improvement.”

Coach Landrus said that her team does need to focus on its work to do great gymnastics and to show people what they have been working for.

“We have fun floor routines and dynamic performances from all the events,” Landrus said. “We have beautiful beam performances. Gymnastics is such a show. Illini fans should expect true performances out of this team. (The gymnasts) are really looking forward to competing this weekend. They’ve worked very hard in the gym, and I think they’ll show everybody just what they can do.”

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