Illinois women’s gymnastics places third at Big Five Meet, earns No. 20 national ranking
Gymnast Mia Takekawa performs for her balance beam event during the meet against Minnesota on Feb. 6. Takeawa scored team highs during her balance beam event during the Big Five Meet with the Illini placing third overall.
February 21, 2022
During their second dual meet of the season, the Illini finished third behind Michigan and Ohio State with a score of 196.375 at the Big Five Meet, which also featured Iowa and Maryland and took place in Toledo, Ohio, on Friday.
Illinois recently posted a season high of 196.450 total points during its previous matchup against Michigan State on Feb. 13.
The Illini started their night off on the beam, where junior all-around specialist Mia Takekawa and sophomore Amelia Knight scored team highs of 9.875 and 9.80, respectively.
On the following event, junior Olivia O’Donnell scored a career high of 9.825 on the floor, which helped the women achieve a score of 49.20 for that event.
Junior Lexi Powe earned a new career high of 9.9 on the vault to help the Illini score 49.175 overall, while seniors Rachel Borden and Mallory Mizuki and sophomore Kaitlyn Ewald each scored a 9.80 on the bars to help the team get a final score of 49.30.
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Head coach Nadalie Walsh’s biggest focus throughout the whole meet was reminding the team the importance of having fun and seeing the competition as a performance to the crowd, according to Takekawa.
“The biggest thing she talked about was confidence,” Takekawa said. “We need to enjoy our time instead of thinking about having to make the routine or the pressure of the situation because that’s when we do the best.”
The Sacramento native went on to share that this new mindset took some time to implement.
“The past couple of years I’ve put a lot of pressure on myself,” Takekawa said. “This year, I’ve focused more on enjoying the competition and enjoying the time that I have, especially after losing part of our first season.”
The Illini’s record currently stands at 2-3 in head-to-head matchups as they prepare for their meet against another Big Ten rival.
With the Big Ten Championships around the corner, Takekawa admitted that the losses are hard to see on the team’s record but shared that the team is built to leave those losses in the past to focus on making improvements.
“We’ve been getting losses,” Takekawa said. “But our score has been improving every week, so being able to take the small victories within each competition, no matter the outcome, is what we need to stick with to have a successful rest of the season.”
Now ranked No. 20 nationally, the Illini will be returning to Champaign for another home meet against Rutgers on Feb. 25.
This next meet is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.at Huff Hall.
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