The Illinois women’s gymnastics team will host No. 3 Alabama for Senior Day at Huff Hall in Champaign on Sunday, March 8, at 2 p.m. CT. The meet brings one of the top-ranked programs in the country to compete against the Fighting Illini.
Illinois recently participated in its annual Big 4 meet at Minnesota on March 1, achieving a team score of 195.650. Sophomore Chloe Cho led the Illini by winning event titles on both bars and beam and setting a new career-high all-around score of 39.575. This mark tied for the sixth-best in program history and is the highest for Illinois since 2022.
Cho also secured event wins with scores of 9.925 on bars and 9.950 on beam. Other notable performances included Summer Clancy’s career-best 9.900 on beam, Alea Byrne’s 9.775 on vault, Destiny Denning’s 9.800 on bars, and Tali Joelson’s 9.825 on floor.
Alabama enters the meet after competing at the P&G Podium Challenge in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, where it posted a team total of 197.650—its second-highest road score this season. Gabby Gladieux won the all-around title with a score of 39.575, while Azaraya Ra-Akbar took first place on uneven bars with a career-high-tying score of 9.975.
Chloe Lacoursiere continued her consistency as national bars leader by scoring a 9.925 for the ninth consecutive meet, and Noella Marshall matched her career high with a vault score of 9.875. Kylee Kvamme recorded a beam score of 9.925 for the third week in a row.
Alabama scored highly across all events: posting a team total of 49.500 on bars, 49.175 on beam, 49.600 on floor, and 49.375 on vault during its last competition. The Crimson Tide had at least five countable scores above or equal to 9.900 on floor for three straight meets; Jordyn Paradise contributed a vault score of 9.925 for her third consecutive week scoring above or equal to that mark.
This upcoming contest will see Alabama’s nationally ranked lineup face Illinois’ home advantage during Senior Day celebrations.
Alabama is currently ranked among the top ten teams nationally in all four events and has at least one gymnast ranked in the top ten individually per apparatus.
The University of Illinois Fighting Illini Women’s Gymnastics team is known as the Fighting Illini within university athletics according to their official website. The team holds its home meets in Champaign, Illinois (source) and competes as part of both NCAA Division I (source) and the Big Ten Conference (source). The program is based in Champaign-Urbana (source), sharing its nickname with other university teams (source).
