On March 25, Illinois women’s gymnastics received their bid to compete at the NCAA Regionals in Ann Arbor this weekend. The Illini will be taking on the Ball State Cardinals for the program’s 20th straight regionals appearance.
This regional appearance comes a week and a half after the Illini placed second for their session at the Big Ten championships and sixth place overall, scoring 196.700. Some highlights from their conference meet include a 10th place finish for graduate Mia Takekawa on the beam with a score of 9.875, junior Kadyn Fitzgibbon and graduate Mia Townes both earning 9.900 on the floor and tying for seventh place and sophomore Arielle Ward also earning a 9.900 on the vault and tying for second place. All four of the top 10 finishers for the Illini also took the honor of being on the All-Championship team.
Ward spoke on the team’s sixth-place finish and her second-place finish at their conference meet. Noting that despite things not working out as they envisioned, the team still has things to prove and isn’t done yet.
“We gave everything we could, and things don’t always work as we may have hoped,” Ward said. “To accomplish that really just encouraged me to have the confidence to go all the way.”
This upcoming matchup against Ball State could be a challenge for Illinois. Ball State currently has a 14-4 record for the season with a season high of 198.025 whereas Illinois is at a 16-12 record and a season high of 197.275. Both teams also had impressive performances at their respective conferences with the Cardinals coming in second place out of seven teams at the Mid-American Conference championship and having first-place finishers for the all-around, floor, beam and uneven bars events.
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In the rankings, Illinois is currently ranked No. 31 with Ball State three spots below them at No. 34. Head coach Nadalie Walsh for Illinois also has a personal connection to Ball State where she served as head coach during 2008-2013.
As for the preparation the team is taking for regionals, Ward spoke on how the team is working hard every day but is also trying to keep the environment fun.
“Just making sure we keep it fun as well,” Ward noted. “We’re really stoked and really excited and really confident going into regionals.”
The team will also be competing at the Crisler Center, a location the Illini have yet to compete in this season. The Crisler Center seats roughly 14,000 people in comparison to where the Illini usually competes at Huff Hall which seats around 4,000. With a different environment, Ward mentioned the preparation that comes along with that.
“It is going to be a new environment, but we prepared for higher-energy meets with larger crowds,” Ward said.
Illinois women’s gymnastics will be competing against Ball State at the NCAA Regionals in Ann Arbor on Wednesday at 1 p.m. CT.
