The season came to an end for No. 31 Illinois women’s gymnastics on Thursday night after a tough matchup between No. 1 Oklahoma (198.050), No. 16 North Carolina State (195.950) and No. 17 Ohio State (196.975). Illinois ultimately came in third place with an overall score of 196.750, with Ohio State and Oklahoma moving on in the regional competition.
Prior to the meet, head coach Nadalie Walsh said that she was proud of each of the athletes who went out and competed the day before, also highlighting both senior Amelia Knight and graduate Mia Townes.
“The approach for this meet is going to be even more aggressive and assertive,” Walsh said. “Doing it yesterday as a dual meet feels a little bit empty.”
The Illini started on the uneven bars with strong performances from freshman Destiny Denning, seniors Kaitlyn Ewald, Amelia Knight and Abby Mueller and graduate Mia Takekawa who all together earned a total of 49.225 points which was an improvement from their bars score yesterday. Takekawa was the highest scorer for the Illini in the event with an impressive 9.950 which also earned her the second-place finish.
The Illini then competed on the beam, which was their highest-scoring event of the night, scoring 49.250 points. This was done by the efforts of sophomore Alea Byrne, graduate Mia Townes, Knight, Mueller and Takekawa. Both Knight and Takekawa earned scores of 9.875, which also earned them a tie for fifth place overall.
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With a total of 98.475 points halfway through, the Illini still had a lead against the Wolfpack. On the floor, sophomore Arielle Ward, senior Allie Morgan along with Mueller and Townes all scored another 49.200 points for Illinois. Mueller, Townes, and Ward all earned 9.850, with Byrne and Morgan 0.025 points behind.
Lastly, Illinois competed on the vault which also resulted in their lowest score of the night with a 49.075. Despite this, freshman Olvia Coppola, Byrne, Mueller, Takekawa and Townes put on exceptional performances. Both Coppola and Takekawa earned the highest scores for the Illini with 9.850 but did not place in the top three.
As for the all-around, Mueller’s performances throughout all six events earned her a total of 39.275 which ties her career-high score for the event as well.
While the season for the team has concluded, the Illini could potentially have individual qualifiers for the national championship. Once regionals have concluded, individual athletes may qualify if they were the top scorer for the event on a team that did not advance.
