COLUMBUS, Ohio. – The No. 24 women's gymnastics program is set to take on No. 16 Ohio State and Kent State at the Covelli Center at 1 p.m. CT in Columbus, Ohio on March 5.
ABOUT THE MEET
This is the first of two tri meets the Illini will participate in within a two week span, both with ranked schools. The Buckeyes and the Illini have met before with Ohio State narrowly coming out victorious 196.825-196.600.
The trip to Ohio is the last one until the Illini go to Iowa City for the Big Ten Championships. Illinois sits at 5-4 on the road and 2-1 at neutral sites.
LAST TIME OUT
Mia Townes had the best vault score not only for the Illini, but tied for first in the event with a 9.85. Julia Waight continued her progression with a 9.825 in the event, and Nataraj secured a 9.80.
Rachel Borden, Mia Takekawa and Kaitlyn Ewald were the highest Illini scorers with a 9.85 on bars, with Mueller the first to break her career-high in the event with a 9.825.
The beam team was next and took the event by storm. Knight kicked it off with a stellar 9.925. Mizuki was next and scored a 9.95. Nataraj secured a 9.925 with Takekawa finishing the apparatus off for the Illini, getting a perfect 10.0 from one judge and a 9.95 from the other, ultimately finishing with a 9.975 and winning the event.
Waight and Kadyn Fitzgibbon split the top Illini spot on floor, securing a 9.85. Takekawa was next, scoring a 9.825 with Mia Townes grabbing a 9.80.
Shatter the glass ceiling
The Illini broke its program best beam score in the meet against No. 13 Michigan State, as well as, Amelia Knight, Mallory Mizuki, Abby Mueller and Ruthuja Nataraj shattering their career-highs.
Illinois' last program high for beam was 49.525 set on March 13, 2021 against Minnesota. Almost two years later on Feb. 27, the Illini secured a 49.675 to shatter that record.
Knight (9.925), Mizuki (9.950) and Nataraj (9.925) all secured their new career-highs on beam while Mueller (9.82) broke hers on bars.
SCOUTING REPORT - Ohio state
The Buckeyes just competed Friday evening with a 196.700-195.575 victory over Brigham Young University.
The highest score of the evening came from Colby Miller, who scored a 9.950 on bars. Ohio State claimed both the uneven bars and vault, thanks to a 9.90 from Sydney Jennings, with BYU's Elease Rollins and Heidi Schooley winning beam and floor -- Rollings with a 9.90 on beam and Schooley with a 9.875 on floor.
SCOUTING REPORT - kent state
Kent State is coming off a close meet with Eastern Michigan where the Golden Flashes won 195.750-195.450.
Kent State's highest scores of the night were two 9.900 and one 9.925, with the other scores averaging 9.85s.
Rachel DeCavitch is coming off a career-high beam score (9.900) as well as Kennedy Weinpert and Brynne Tsipis, who secured a 9.85 on vault.
Alyssa Guns, last week's MAC Specialist of the Week, won her third floor title of the season with a 9.925. Guns has earned a 9.90+ mark four times on floor four times so far this season.
