The Illini (3-4, 1-3) earned their first win over a conference rival this weekend, taking down the Washington Huskies (2-6, 1-3) 194.475-194.400 in a tight contest.

Fighting through nerves

Despite posting their second-lowest team score all season, the Illini managed to secure a conference victory after gritting through a difficult beam rotation.

Illinois failed to earn a score above 9.900 throughout the whole meet. However, through three rotations, that seemed to be enough to hold off Washington. The Huskies suffered three falls in their first rotation, including two sub-9.900 scores on the uneven bars.

However, entering the final rotation, Illinois cracked under pressure and saw two falls on the balance beam from freshman Summer Clancy and junior Olivia Coppola. Thankfully for the team, sophomore superstar Chloe Cho stuck her 1 1/2 twist dismount and scored a meet-clinching 9.850 to push past Washington by .075.

Team highlights

Cho and junior Lyden Saltness won event titles on the vault and uneven bars with scores of 9.825 and 9.875, respectively. Collectively, they posted the highest scores for the Illini across three of the four events.

Freshman Piper Gow scored the highest on the floor exercise with a solid score of 9.850 after finishing with a controlled front double full and minimal foot form.

Fellow freshman Callie Kauffman also had a consistent meet, averaging 9.7625 across her two events of vault and beam, making herself a steady presence in the lineups amongst other falls. 

Head coach Josh Nilson emphasized these individual positives and the collective victory post-meet.

“We had a hard-fought win tonight, but a win and a Big Ten win nonetheless,” Nilson wrote to Fighting Illini Athletics. “The team will continue to improve, build on the good and attack the mistakes. Chloe won yet another all-around. Lyden won the bars. I am proud of them.”

Up next

The Illini continue their contests against Big Ten competitors as they travel to Lincoln, Nebraska, to take on the Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-4, 1-3), where they’ll compete Sunday at 2 p.m. CST.

The following weekend, Illinois will be back home against Olympic gold-medalist Jordan Chiles and juggernaut No. 4 UCLA (8-2, 4-0) at State Farm Center on Feb. 22 at 4 p.m. CST. 

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