The University of Illinois Fighting Illini Women’s Gymnastics team had four individual qualifiers compete at the NCAA Regionals in Lexington, Kentucky on Apr. 3.
Chloe Cho, Summer Clancy, Eden King, and Lyden Saltness represented the university at the event. The meet marked an important moment for these athletes as they competed against top talent from across the country.
Head coach Josh Nilson said, “I am very proud of these ladies. They supported each other through the whole meet and represented the Block I with class and grace. They have led the team by example every step of the way and are very hungry to continue leading next season. Thank you Illini fans! The future is very bright.”
During the first rotation, Cho competed on bars and scored a 9.900—her ninth score of at least 9.9 on that apparatus this season—while King earned a 9.050 on floor exercise. Cho continued her strong performance with a 9.850 on beam and a 9.875 on floor in later rotations, while Saltness posted a score of 9.800 competing individually on bars.
In their final events, Cho finished her night with a vault score of 9.750 and Clancy made her regionals debut with a beam score of 9.800. Cho ended up with an all-around total of 39.375 points.
According to the official website, Illinois’ women’s gymnastics program is known as Fighting Illini within university athletics and shares this nickname with other teams from the school.
The team conducts its home events in Champaign, Illinois and is centered in Champaign-Urbana according to information provided by its official website. The Fighting Illini compete at the NCAA Division I level as members of the Big Ten Conference according to their official site.
Looking ahead, Nilson said his athletes are eager to continue leading next season.
