The Illinois women’s gymnastics team finished last season ranked 18th in the country and come into this season with the same preseason ranking.
Illinois this year will feature senior standout Alina Weinstein, who won NCAA regional all-around and beam titles last year. The team will open its season with a quad meet this Saturday in Tucson, Ariz.
“The first meet is always a mixed bag. We don’t know what’s going to happen, so it’s a bit of an adjustment. Some girls have never competed before, so it will be interesting to see how our rookies adjust to the level of competition. But at the end of the day, I feel like we’ll get off on the right foot and build on the momentum for the rest of the year.”
The Illini will face familiar competition in No. 6-ranked Stanford, a team that Illinois hosted at last year’s regional meet, as well as No. 19 Arizona and San Jose State, a team that is receiving top-25 votes.
Illinois lost last year’s Big Ten beam champion Kelsey Joannides and Hannah Welker to graduation, and the Illini also lost senior Elise Gill because of injury.
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“This team is ready to rise to the challenge,” head coach Kim Landrus said. “The newcomers and our returning gymnasts are more than ready to overcome the adversity of losing key gymnasts on the team and show everyone what Illinois women’s gymnastics is capable of doing.”
“We look great, we have a lot of raw talent on our team, and it’s really exciting to see,” Weinstein said. “We had a lot of injuries last year, and those people are coming back and adding to the depth of our program. I feel like a lot of people are underestimating how strong we’re going to be this year. We’re ready and we’re well-prepared, and I think we’re going to do great things this year.”
Both Landrus and Weinstein said the team has aspirations of advancing to the regionals and possibly the nationals.
“We want to make it to the evening session of Big Ten Championships,” Weinstein said. “And we want to be Big Ten (champions). We want to be seeded top two at regionals and make it to nationals.”
Weinstein added that she hopes to be in contention for the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year honor, though team goals are more important than any individual accolade.
“The Big Ten is ultra-competitive, so if we want to accomplish our goals, we have to put our minds to being champions,” she said. “We have to put in a lot of hard work on the little things that will set us apart, like sticking and presentation.”
Nicholas can be reached at goldwyn2@ dailyillini.com and @IlliniSportsGuy.
