Chambana Sun

The Illinois Fighting Illini gymnastics team achieved a significant victory against the Ohio State Buckeyes, ranked 18th nationally. The match took place on Friday, February 7, in Champaign, Illinois. This win marks the first time since 2020 that Illinois has defeated Ohio State.

Illinois scored 196.150 to Ohio State's 195.475, with notable performances from Arielle Ward, Makayla Green, and Olivia Coppola. Ward began the competition strongly by tying her career high on vault with a score of 9.925, earning her the event title and contributing to the team's season-high score of 49.100 in this category.

Senior captain Makayla Green also excelled on bars, scoring a career-high-tying 9.925 for the second consecutive week and securing another event title for Illinois. Chloe Cho followed closely with a personal best of 9.875.

Olivia Coppola shone during the beam rotation with a career-high score of 9.875, which earned her the beam title. Head coach Nadalie Walsh expressed pride in Coppola's progress: "I'm very proud of all of Olivia's progress," she said. "She continues to mature and take on bigger roles for this team."

Despite Ohio State taking a lead after three rotations, Illinois rallied during the floor exercise segment led by Tali Joelson and Ward, both achieving career highs of 9.875 each. Cho recorded the highest floor score for Illinois at 9.900.

Coach Walsh highlighted the significance of this victory: "We came into this meet knowing that we were doing this for not only the current team but all the alumni that we're celebrating this weekend," she stated.

Illinois will next compete against No. 9 Missouri at Huff Hall on Sunday, February 9.