Final Results 

EAST LANSING, Mich. – The University of Illinois women's gymnastics team defeated the Michigan State Spartans, 196.350-194.550 on Saturday night at the Jenison Fieldhouse. Illinois's 196.350 team score is a season-best mark for the Orange and Blue. Five Illini won six individual event titles to help Illinois retain the Victory Plank.

Freshman Kasey Meeks won the vault title by matching her career-best mark of 9.825. Sophomore Karen Howell won the bars and floor titles with a 9.825 on each apparatus. Fellow-sophomore Rae Balthazor also earned a share of the bars title. Freshman Kylie Noonan earned her first individual event title on floor and senior Bridget Hodan secured the beam title with a career-best 9.925.  

Up next, Illinois returns home to face the Missouri Tigers next Sunday afternoon. Competition at Huff Hall is slated to begin at 4 pm.

Illinois Notes

• UI notched a season-best 196.350 team score.
• Illinois scored a season-high 49.300 on beam, good for the program's seventh-highest team score on the apparatus.
• The Illini tallied a season-best 49.075 team score on vault.
• Freshman Nicole Biondi scored a career-high 9.825 on vault.
• Balthazor hit a career-best 9.825 on vault.
• Meeks matched her career-high mark of 9.850 on vault to win her fourth individual event title on the apparatus.
• Howell scored a career-best 9.900 on beam and hit a season-high 9.825 on floor.
• Hodan notched a career-high 9.900 on beam and matched her season-best score of 9.800 on floor.
• Junior Haylee Roe matched her career-high mark of 9.875 on beam.  
• Noonan scored a career-best 9.825 on beam. Noonan won the first individual event title of her career on floor with a 9.825.

Illinois Quotes

"I am really proud of the team and their mentality tonight. We approached this week of practice with a purpose and transferred our training to the competition floor. The team absolutely deserved that score and we are just going to keep climbing." - head coach Nadalie Walsh 

"I am happy with my performance tonight. After a good week of practice, I saw my routines transfer to the competition floor. The hard work really paid off today and I am so much more confident this week." - sophomore Karen Howell 

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