Chambana Sun

The Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team recorded its highest score of the season but fell short in a close contest against No. 15 Minnesota, with a final score of 196.950-196.850 at Huff Hall in Champaign, Illinois.

This result brings Illinois to a 7-7 record overall and 1-4 in conference play, while Minnesota improves to an 8-1 overall record and 4-1 in Big Ten competition.

"This team has to earn every single score they get," stated head coach Nadalie Walsh. "They don't get handouts so they're being conditioned to be very tight-minded and do what they need to do so when we get to the end of the season and into postseason, they will be able to fight for every tenth."

Throughout the meet, both teams were closely matched. After the first rotation, Minnesota held a narrow lead with scores of 49.075-49.050. Illinois then took the lead after bars with scores of 98.400-98.100 but fell behind again after the third rotation with Minnesota leading at 147.600-147.575.

Minnesota secured their victory following two impressive performances on beam by Sarah Moraw and Ella Sirjord, each scoring a 9.900.

Illinois saw individual event wins from Abby Mueller on vault (9.875), Mia Takekawa on bars (9.925), and Ruthuja Nataraj who tied for first on beam (9.900).

The Illini's performance breakdown included:

Vault: The team achieved their second-best vault score this season with a total of 49.050 points, highlighted by Arielle Ward's 9.850 performance.

Bars: Illinois set a season-high score of 49.350 on bars led by Takekawa’s standout performance scoring a 9.925.

Beam: Kaitlyn Ewald and Ameilia Knight each scored a solid 9.850 on beam.

Floor: Mia Townes excelled with a top floor score of 9.900 for Illinois.

Looking ahead, Illinois is set to compete in University Park, Pennsylvania at the annual Big Five meet against Penn State, Iowa, Maryland ranked No.25, and Michigan ranked No.11 in an afternoon session starting at 3:30 p.m CT.