Four student-athletes from the University of Illinois Fighting Illini Women’s Gymnastics team have qualified for the 2026 NCAA Women’s Gymnastics Regional Championships, according to a March 23 announcement. Chloe Cho, Summer Clancy, Eden King, and Lyden Saltness will compete in the Lexington, Kentucky regional scheduled for April 2-5.
The selection highlights notable achievements by each gymnast during the regular season and reflects the team’s ongoing presence at high-level collegiate competition. The event is significant as it gives these athletes an opportunity to represent their program on a national stage.
Cho qualified in both all-around and bars events after earning national rankings of No. 8 on bars and No. 10 in all-around this season. She collected a total of 25 titles—third-most in program history—and achieved a career-high all-around score of 39.575 at the Big Four meet at Minnesota, which ties her for sixth-best in school history. Cho also surpassed the milestone of scoring over 1,000 points during her collegiate career.
Clancy enters regionals following a strong freshman year with scores above 9.8 on beam in eight out of eleven appearances and two event titles this season, including her first beam win on February 15. She was named to the Big Ten All-Championships team on vault.
King advanced to regionals on floor after recording three consecutive scores of 9.900 leading up to the championships and posting a team-high mark at Big Tens. Saltness earned her spot by excelling on bars with six routines scoring at least a 9.900 this year; she has ranked as high as No.6 nationally on that apparatus after returning to bars competition since last competing exclusively on beam last season.
The four gymnasts are set to participate in round two of regionals beginning April 3.
The University of Illinois Fighting Illini Women’s Gymnastics is known by its nickname Fighting Illini within university athletics according to the official website. The program conducts its home events in Champaign, Illinois according to the official website and is part of both NCAA Division I competition and the Big Ten Conference according to the official website. The team shares its nickname with other university athletic programs according to the official website and is centered in Champaign-Urbana according to the official website.
