This weekend marks the fourth trip to the NCAA Gymnastics Championships for the Illinois women’s gymnastics team. It also marks the first consecutive appearances for the Fighting Illini as they also qualified to Championships last year.

When asked about qualifying to Nationals for the second year in a row, Head Coach Kim Landrus said, “I just think it’s exciting. It’s another opportunity for this team to go in and do what we do, show the rest of the country Illinois gymnastics.”

The Illini come into Nationals as an underdog. The past two times they have gone to Nationals, they have finished 11th. Their goal for this year is to finish in the top 10, but they know gymnastics is unpredictable.

“Anything can happen, but we know that we want to go out and do our very best,” senior Amber See said. “Then whatever happens from there happens. I think we’ll only be satisfied if we have a great meet and do our job. The scores will speak for themselves. So hopefully we’ll be able to get into the top 10.

“That’s definitely a goal of ours, but if we go out and have the best meet that we’ve had all year and that doesn’t happen, then we’re still going to be proud. It’s definitely doable though. Anyone can mess up, and we don’t want to make the mistakes. We want to let the other people make them.”

This season, Illinois was in several close meets that came down to mere tenths and the last rotation. This was especially true of Regionals when they were ahead of Minnesota by only four tenths coming into the final rotation. To help them succeed despite how close the scores are, the Illini like to focus on themselves and not the other teams.

“Coach [Landrus] has always emphasized that regardless of how the other teams are doing, you’re not done until the four events are over with, until that meet is done,” Minneapolis Regional Beam Champion and Illinois senior Sarah Fiedler said. “So you just got to keep pushing regardless of what other scores are being thrown on the other events. We had to stay focused and finish the meet off well.”

Finishing the meet off well definitely paid off for the Illini gymnasts, specifically at Regionals, propelling them to their third Nationals appearance in four years. With this appearance, the Illini’s limitless mentality that began at the start of the year has paid off.

“I just really think that they’ve embraced everything we’ve talked about … [I] talk about the championship culture a lot and our core values. It’s just something we started the very first week of official practice, and we’ve just built off of it,” Landrus said. “That’s what we’ve lived by. That’s we adhere to, and that’s what the fundamentals we always go back to [are]. For this team, it really worked.”

Something else that worked for this team is chemistry.

“I think team cohesion has a lot to do with the success that we’ve had this year,” senior Liz McNabb said. “I don’t think we’ve had this type of team chemistry as well as we have since my freshman year here. It’s kind of exciting to see great results from that, not specifically just because we’re really good friends, but supporting each other and helping each other get through the hard practices, and if someone’s having a hard day, the rest of us will pick them up and help them get through that last routine or whatever it is. It’s always easier if you know you have support behind you, and you know the team is getting through practice each and every day for each other. So you’re not just doing it for yourself, but you’re doing it for everyone else on the team. It kind of pushes everyone else.”

Throughout the season, this Illinois gymnastics team has continually made history, from See’s perfect 10 to the program’s first 197 to this Nationals appearance. Regardless of what occurs this weekend, this team has made an impact on the view of Illinois gymnastics, and Coach Landrus attributes it all to the gymnasts’ drive.

“I just think they have their heart set on it,” Landrus said. “They have goals, and they had goals. They just kept checking them off the list. Heart and determination can do a lot.”

Illinois will compete in the first semi-final of the NCAA Gymnastics Championships at 1 PM CT.