CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The No. 17 Penn State women’s gymnastics (2-0, 1-0 Big Ten) notched the first road and conference victory by nearly two points over the Illinois Fighting Illini (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten), 196.075-194.100, in Huff Hall on Friday night.
Penn State secured higher point totals on every rotation with the Nittany Lions scoring 98.350 on bars and beam compared to Illinois’ 97.225 on the same two events. The Penn State bars score was the highest in the event by the Nittany Lions since March last year and the highest in any event by the program so far this year.
BARS (49.200)
The Nittany Lions started hot, scoring a fantastic 49.200 to start the contest. Senior Ava Piedrahita stunned the judges and the crowd with a 9.925, a new career-best and the highest score recorded by any Penn State gymnast during the meet. Sophomore Dani Latronica followed with a 9.875, her first of two events with a 9.875, and sophomore Elizabeth Leary was closely behind her with a 9.850. Graduate Jessica Johanson and sophomore Ellie Monahan rounded out the rotation with each scoring a 9.775 while Ava Cash appeared in her second bars event in her collegiate career. The 49.200 team points that the bars unit scored was the highest by any unit during the meet and finished above the Illinois unit, 49.200-48.925.
VAULT (48.850)
Johanson secured her first event title of the 2026 season off a 9.825 on vault. The trio of Latronica, Piedrahita and sophomore Allison Kaempfer all recorded 9.775s for a balanced effort in the middle of the lineup. Leary and Cash rounded out the event with a pair of 9.700s and was enough as the Penn State unit outscored Illinois 48.850-48.625 on the event.
FLOOR (48.875)
Juniors Alyssa Kramer and Kalea McElligott each earned a share of the floor event title, leading the way for the Nittany Lions with 9.825 from each gymnast. Johanson and Monahan followed the pair up with 9.800s from the two to pace five of the six Illinois gymnasts. Junior Ashley Maul and sophomore Bella Misiura rounded out the Penn State effort on the floor by scoring a 9.625 and 9.475, respectively. The Blue & White paced the Fighting Illini, 48.875-48.250.
BEAM (49.150)
In the most dominant performance by the Nittany Lions this season, all six gymnasts who competed in the rotation scored higher than every Illinois gymnast on the beam. Latronica secured the event title after a dazzling 9.875 routine. Maul and McElligott notched 9.850s with Monahan following shortly behind with a 9.800 of her own. Kramer and Leary closed out the unit a pair of 9.775s. Penn State won the event 49.150-48.300.
UP NEXT
Penn State heads back to University Park for another Big Ten contest, this time against the Maryland Terrapins on Sunday, January 25th at 2 p.m. in Rec Hall. Admission to all home meets is free and doors open an hour ahead of the scheduled start time.
For complete coverage of Penn State Women’s Gymnastics, follow @PennStateWGYM on Instagram and X and @PennStateWomensGymnastics on Facebook.