CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini are heading west to Las Vegas to kick off the 2024 season at the Mean Girls Super 16 Gymnastics Championships at 3 p.m. CT against Denver, Washington and San Jose State in the first session.
Kentucky, Michigan, Michigan State and Oklahoma will compete in the second session; Oregon State, Southern Utah, Brigham Young and Minnesota with be in the third session; while Alabama, Auburn, Cal and UCLA will cap off the meet in the fourth session.
New Kids on the Block
Head coach Nadalie Walsh added seven gymnasts to the roster: Olivia Coppola (Cincinnati Gymnastics Academy), Maddie Vitolo (North Stars Gymnastics Academy), Mareli Muller (Frederick Gymnastics Club), Lyden Saltness (Midwest Gymnastics), Destiny Denning (Flip For Me Gymnastics), Kendall Flury (Sarasota Gymnastics Academy) and Micheala Gentry (San Jose State).
Walsh Adds Nilson to Coaching Staff
Walsh also added her former Utah State assistant coach Josh Nilson to the 2023-24 coaching staff. Nilson will serve as associate head coach for the Fighting Illini after spending the last five years as head coach at Temple University.
Temple qualified for NCAA Regionals in 2021 for the first time in 29 years and achieved its highest ranking in program history at No. 30. For his efforts, Nilson was named 2021 Northeast Region Coach of the Year by the Women's Collegiate Gymnastics Association.
The Cache Valley, Utah, native led his squad to multiple broken records over the last two seasons – including an all-time team score record (196.675) and beam record (49.325) in 2022, as well as vault (49.250) and floor (49.400) records in 2023.
Nilson has also led a total of eight gymnasts to qualify individually for the NCAA Regionals throughout his career.
Walsh and Nilson worked together for three seasons at Utah State, where they guided the Aggies to three consecutive NCAA Regional appearances in 2014, 2015, and 2016.
Gymnasts to Watch
Graduate student Mia Takekawa and senior Amelia Knight have been tabbed B1G Gymnasts to Watch by the Big Ten Conference.
Takekawa continued to impress last year, sharing the Big Ten title on uneven bars and earning two 9.975s on balance beam in 2023.
Knight secured a career-high 9.925 on balance beam in 2023 and was a monumental part of the beam lineup, helping break the beam record against Michigan State.
