Hey Illini Fans! 

It's been a jam packed few weeks here in Champaign!  Our season has officially begun! We started off in Arizona in a quad meet against the University of Arizona, Stanford University and San Jose State. We were all looking forward to being in the warm weather for a few days, but we were pretty unlucky.  It was actually warmer in Champaign than Arizona! L  It was exciting for our first meet of the season being a quad meet, because the atmosphere in the arena is was super loud and there was an Illini fan section that we sure could hear, like always! We had some mistakes, but it was a starting point for us to build off in practice in order to improve and prepare for the next meet. 

After we got back from Arizona, all the dormers finally got moved back in and settled back into the dorms after living in the apartments over break.  Winter break is always a fun time, because we have so much extra time to spend together since we don't have classes. We all became quickly obsessed with the movie "Pitch Perfect."  I can safely say that it was played almost every day at one of the apartments. 

Although it was a short week in practice, we had high energy in the gym and we were all really motivated to improve on our routines from the last meet.  We had a lot of team assignments, which helped us gain the confidence we needed to go against #2 Michigan.  Our meet was going to be LIVE on the Big Ten network which is always exciting.  It's always neat to have our meet broadcasted on the Big Ten Network to allow our friends and family who could not be there a chance to watch.    We started off on bars and had a solid start going six for six hit routines.  We carried that over to vault where we had a lot of improvements overall.  After a little rough patch on floor, we managed to come back together on beam and set the third highest beam total in history! We also had a lot of career highs for individuals, which is always memorable.   Check out our highlights of the meet here. With that being said there is always room for improvement, so we will continue working 110% in the gym for our first home meet this weekend! 

This meet is special in a few ways.  First, it's our THINK PINK meet, so come out and wear your PINK in honor of all those who have been touched in some way by breast cancer.  Additionally, our meet with Michigan State is always neat as the VICTORY PLANK, our one and only rivalry trophy in gymnastics, is at stake. We hope you will be able to come out and cheer us on in our quest to have the Victory Plank in Champaign for 2013!

            Well that's all for now!  Until next time Illini fans!

Gaby Nguyen