Illinois will be represented by juniors Mia Takekawa and Mia Townes at the NCAA Women’s National Championship in Fort Worth, Texas, who earned their bids after strong performances at the NCAA regionals in Seattle. 

Mia Takekawa scored a 9.950 on the bars while Townes scored a 9.925 on the vault.

Both will rotate alongside fellow Big Ten team Minnesota and will compete in the first semifinal session. Since it was announced that they will rotate with them, both gymnasts showed excitement to compete alongside a group which they have gotten to know well and have seen them compete often.

“We’re super close to (Minnesota), it’s definitely not going to be something where we’re going to be competing alone, we’re going to have our Big Ten company,” Townes said.

“Their energy is really great and they are all really supportive, even on social media,” Takekawa said.

Other teams in this session are Oklahoma, Utah and Alabama.

Oklahoma went 25-2 in the regular season with their only losses being against Utah early on in the season and Florida in late February. Since then, Oklahoma has gone on a 15 meet win streak, highlighted by wins against Michigan, winning the Big 12 Championship and dominating the NCAA Norman Regional, competing against California, Minnesota and Arkansas.

Utah went 10-3 in the regular season with their only losses against California, Arizona and LSU. Utah went on to win the PAC-12 Championship and dominated the NCAA Seattle Regional, which Illinois participated in.

Alabama went 9-4 in the regular season with early losses against Oklahoma, Florida and Auburn as well as a loss against LSU. They went on to finish second in the SEC and placed second at the NCAA Seattle Regional final behind Utah.

The championship will take place on Thursday through Saturday at the Dickies Arena in Fort Worth Texas.

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