Washington will participate in the Big Ten Championships on March 20 at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The Huskies are set to compete in the first of three sessions alongside Illinois, Nebraska, and Rutgers.
The event is significant as it marks a major postseason opportunity for Washington, which recently closed out its regular season with its highest team score of the year. The Huskies posted a 196.575 to finish second at the Cal Quad meet. Their performance included a season-best beam score of 49.525, which was only the second time in program history they reached that mark.
Olivia Oppegard led the team with a career-high 9.950 on beam to win the event, while Kristin Lin added a career-high 9.925 on beam and finished second all-around with a personal best of 39.325. On floor exercise, Caitlin McWilliams scored a 9.900 to tie for second place, and Lilly Tubbs and Chelsea Hallinan each contributed scores of 9.900 on beam. Mary McDonough also achieved a season-high score of 9.825 on vault.
Nationally, Washington is ranked No. 35 overall and holds similar rankings across individual events: No. 39 on vault, No. 41 on bars, No. 35 on beam, and No. 32 on floor exercise. Hallinan is tied for tenth place on beam within the Big Ten conference.
Their competitors also bring strong credentials into the championship: Illinois is ranked No. 20 nationally and recently finished third at the Minnesota Quad Meet; Nebraska holds a national ranking of No. 22 after securing a Top-20 victory over North Carolina; Rutgers enters with momentum from achieving a program-record floor score at their most recent quad meet.
The competition will be streamed live on Big Ten Network beginning at 4 p.m., Pacific Time.
