Illinois women’s gymnastics looks to leave their mark at NCAA Seattle Regional
Junior Mia Townes poses during her beam event against Central Michigan, Boise State, and Northern Illinois on March 4. The Illini will be heading to Seattle for the NCAA Regions from Thursday to Saturday.
March 31, 2022
After a very unsatisfying Big Ten Championship, placing 8th, the Illini aim to succeed in all phases of the meet.
Throughout the season, Illinois often faltered in an event or two while reaching spectacular heights in the others.
In a sport where the margins of error are as thin as possible, the Illini need to find their rhythm and have their best meet yet.
The Illini were slated to compete in the second round, second session of the Seattle regional by the NCAA selection committee.
Their session includes No. 4 Utah, No. 13 Oregon State, the winner between No. 29 Stanford and No. 34 San Jose State.
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With repeat Pac-12 champions and Utah in the session, it is likely that they will move on to the Regional Final with none of the other teams posing a legitimate and immediate threat to their first place finish.
Where Illinois will be aiming is to upset No. 13 Oregon State, who placed third in the Pac-12 championship.
Behind freshman Olympic Gold Medalist Jade Carey, Oregon State has seen relative success going 10-3. However, Oregon State’s weakness is the lack of depth typical of an elite team.
While both teams have been peaking at the right moment, the Illini in particular have had almost every gymnast set a personal best in the last three meets while senior Mallory Mizuki, junior Arayah Simons, All-American junior Mia Takekawa and junior Mia Townes have all achieved top-10 program scores.
Illinois has the opportunity to snag the second spot and gain a berth to the Regional final for the first time since 2014.
The Illini will look to have Takekawa, Townes and sophomore Amelia Knight lead the charge with the hope of rallying their team for postseason success.
The meet will take place on March 31 at 9 p.m. at the Alaska Air Arena in Seattle, Washington, and will be streamed via ESPN+.
@JonathanAlday7
