No. 27 Illinois women’s gymnastics saw a season-high score of 196.550 on Friday night while competing against No. 6 Florida (197.925), No. 14 Missouri (197.475) and Lindenwood (194.825).
Despite the impressive cumulative total, the Illini did not see an event win and came out in third place, bringing their season record to 7-6. Illinois also came in third on vault, bars, beam and floor with scores of 49.050, 49.225, 49.050 and 49.225, respectively.
Head coach Nadalie Walsh said that she is never the coach to get upset with any of her athletes about their performance. She said the program as a whole is focused on having a growth mindset and taking anything they can to improve while still being able to have fun and laugh.
“I’m just not the kind of coach that’s ever disappointed in my athletes when they don’t perform as good as they would want to,” Walsh said. “We’re definitely the program that believes in a growth mindset.”
This quad meet came two days before the Illini competed against the No. 15 Gophers on Sunday at Huff Hall. Walsh spoke about how she enjoys double meet weekends.
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“It’s actually extremely exciting,” Walsh said. “I love double meet weekends for my team. They get an opportunity to get out there and compete twice. They can increase their score average throughout the year.”
As much as Walsh said they are a great chance for her team and that it’s a weekend filled with opportunity, she also mentioned the training differences that arise from such a heavy weekend on the athletes’ bodies.
“We train a little differently to make sure that their bodies are able to hold up for the upcoming meet weekend,” Walsh said. “I think we’re in a great spot.”
The Illini are in for a challenge on Sunday. The Gophers are 7-1 on the season and 3-1 in the conference. Despite sitting just a couple places behind Minnesota in the rankings, Illinois has a much different overall record (7-6) and conference mark (1-3).
Walsh spoke about how the team isn’t super focused on how they stand in the rankings each week. She said that the team is working on themselves and their best performance and that the rankings will come as a result.
“Rankings are something that can change up to the very last competition,” Walsh said “We’re focused on doing our best meets and letting the rankings work themselves out.”
Illinois women’s gymnastics will compete at Huff Hall at 2 p.m. on Sunday against Minnesota.
