The Illini landed their first Big Ten victory of the season on Saturday as they faced the rival Hawkeyes on the road in Iowa City, Iowa. Illinois earned its top road score and defeated Iowa 193.850-193.025.

“It feels awesome to have a Big Ten victory,” sophomore Krystal Melcarek said. “It’s exciting to come in (to Iowa) and take care of business to have our first Big Ten win.”

Head coach Bob Starkell said overall his team performed a decent meet, but there is still room to increase the overall score. He said he feels good coming off of a road victory against a Big Ten rival and hopes this will boost the team’s confidence.

The Illini started strong on bars where they posted their second highest bar score of the season with a 48.675. Junior co-caption Cara Pomeroy posted a 9.825 for a first-place and gained her third bar title of the season, and 18th of her career.

“The good thing about (Pomeroy) is when it’s time to compete, she gets extremely competitive and tries not to let anything influence her,” Starkell said. “We can always count on (Pomeroy).”

Melcarek posted a season-high 9.750 to tie for forth on bars, while junior Danye Botterman and freshman Marijka Botterman each scored a 9.725. Senior Emily Earle landed a season-high 9.650 to round out the event.

The Illini moved to vault and posted a 48.775 to continue their season consistency on the event. Sophomore Michelle McGrady tied for first with a 9.825, and Marijka Botterman took third with a 9.775. Freshmen Lindsey Smith (9.750), Kim Kruk (9.700) and Danye Botterman (9.725) finished out the event for the Illini.

Starkell said his team fell flat on floor as they posted 48.175. However, McGrady came away with a second-place finish as she carded a 9.725. Pomeroy and Melcarek each earned a 9.650, and senior co-captain Katie Wild earned a 9.575. After the struggle on floor, the Illini managed to land the top-three places on beam for a team total of 48.225.

Pomeroy scored a 9.825 for her second first-place finish of the meet. Wild scored a second place, season-high 9.750, and Marijka Botterman finished the top-three sweep with a season-high tying 9.725.

Starkell said this week’s practice will center on perfecting routines since Saturday’s meet heeded small mistakes and steps on landings.

“We need to work on landings because a lot were missed this weekend,” Wild said. “We can’t afford to give up tenths (of points) on landings.”

Starkell will help the team focus on confidence and consistency on landings to avoid these minor errors in the upcoming competitions.

“We are going to focus on making sure we don’t let anything get by us these next couple of weekends,” Starkell said.

Illinois will prepare to face Illinois-Chicago in Chicago on Feb. 25 at 7 p.m. Each weekend’s competition is a step closer to the Big Ten Championships, and Wild is eager to show what the Illini are capable of.

“Any Big Ten win is exciting,” Wild said. “It gives us extra confidence to show what we can do in the Big Ten Championships.”