Every year, the Illinois women’s gymnastics team chooses a team slogan to abide by all season long, implementing it into both its practices and meets. This year, the slogan is “fierce.”

“Fierce is something that just kind of helps push us more and take it to the next level,” freshman Jaclyn Kantecki said. “It’s a good reminder for all of us and pushes us to practices and rough days.”

Kantecki scored a 9.800 on the vault Friday night, good for second on the team, as the No. 23 Fighting Illini placed second at a meet hosted by No. 3 Nebraska in Lincoln, Neb. The Illini posted an overall score of 193.375­ — an improvement from their season opener on Jan. 8 — that was good enough to top No. 20 Minnesota’s 192.775 but not enough to take down the Cornhuskers, who finished with a 195.200. Although the Illini improved, the team still feels it has fallen a little short of their goals thus far this season.

“Right now it feels confidence is our issue and we haven’t got off to good starts,” junior Allison Buckley said. “We do really well in practice. We just have to translate what we do in practice into our meets.”

Buckley, who has become a team leader, propelled the Illini to their second-place finish, winning two event titles in the balance beam and all-around. Buckley scored a 9.850 in the beam and 39.275 in the all-around. Her strong work ethic and determination in practice has not gone unnoticed by players and coaches — or the conference office — as Buckley was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week on Monday.

“We worked really hard this week,” Buckley said. “We did a lot of routines, worked on landing and just tried improving on all of our mistakes from the Oregon State meet last week. And to get that honor is really exciting, I’m happy.”

Head coach Bob Starkell praised Buckley’s efforts this week.

“Allison did well (Friday) and is really starting to gain confidence,” Starkell said. “She has begun to lead by example with her work ethic in the gym.”

Kantecki is one of the team members who has had a chance to learn from Buckley during team practices.

“She really is great to work with,” Kantecki said. “She has such a great work ethic and great attitude. It’s something we all benefit from during practice.”

The team’s preparation paid off on the balance beam, as the Illini posted three of the top four scores in the event, with Buckley leading the way.

“We focused on the beam a lot this week,” Buckley said. “We fell a few times early, and obviously that didn’t count as getting the routine down, so we worked on it long. And I had a fall on the beam previously, so it was a confidence thing for me. I had to focus on making sure I do what I do in practice during the meet. But before we went to Nebraska, we all felt good about it.”

The team knows it still needs to focus on performing just as well in meets as it does in practice.

“We know that if we practice we’re going to get better and as a team. We have the skills,” Kantecki said. “Right now it’s about gaining more confidence and turning routines from practice mode into competition mode.”