Chambana Sun

The Illinois gymnastics team secured a victory against Nebraska in their Big Ten opener, winning with a score of 196.275 to 195.600 at Huff Hall on Saturday. The Illini captured four event titles during the competition.

"I am extremely proud of the team's performance and togetherness at this competition," head coach Nadalie Walsh stated. "They truly made an incredible comeback after last weekend and approached their routines with confidence and assertiveness."

The meet began with junior Arielle Ward leading on vault, achieving a 9.825 in her season debut, which was the highest score among all gymnasts for that event.

In the uneven bars rotation, Amelia Knight, Chloe Cho, and Mareli Muller improved their season highs, but it was Makayla Green who topped the scores with a career-high 9.900.

Trailing by 0.025 heading into the beam event, Illinois continued to perform strongly. Ruthuja Nataraj made her season debut on balance beam scoring 9.700 after recovering from an injury last year. Cho, Eden King, and Olivia Coppola all reached career highs of 9.825 on beam.

In the final rotation on floor exercise, Tali Joelson matched her career high with a 9.875 while King and Cho achieved new personal bests of 9.900 and 9.925 respectively. Cho's performance not only earned her the floor title but also secured first place in the all-around competition with a total score of 39.400.

"Chloe, Arielle and Makayla had outstanding event-winning performances," Coach Walsh noted. "They all handled the pressure and turned it into an opportunity for success."

Illinois will next compete against UCLA on January 25th as part of their ongoing Big Ten schedule.