When the gymnasts showed up, their coaches were already there, and they were crying.
In September of 2018, a week after school started for UIC, the coaches and gymnasts received an email from the athletic department calling them into a meeting the next morning. In this moment, all four teams became one.īecause after 40 years as an NCAA gymnastics program, tonight would be the last time the University of Illinois at Chicago competed together as a team. In this moment, the results of the competition slipped away. Half of the spectators and the participants in the arena, those with knowledge of what this chant meant, joined in-their voices rising louder and louder in an echo of solidarity. They began chanting “UIC, UIC, UIC,”-a battle cry that symbolized unity, sportsmanship and compassion all at once. Because the parents of the winning squad, as if sensing the pain and anguish this moment brought to another, selflessly gifted it to a group that needed it more. The initial moment only belonged to Lindenwood briefly. The runners-up and their supporters, shocked and crestfallen by the end result, looked like they had just gotten the wind knocked out of them.īut for that team, seeing the final score-regardless of what it was-brought a whole different kind of emotion: heartbreak. The winning team-Lindenwood-and its fans rose uproariously to their feet with an emotion that can only be described as pure elation. The display lit up with what would elicit disappointment for some and victory for others. After a deadlocked competition, who would take the title? Everyone’s eyes were locked on the scoreboard, which would soon flash the results of this year’s national championship. After the last competitor finished her routine at the USAG National Championships team final, the audience-composed of parents, siblings, friends and fans-collectively held its breath in anticipation of the final scores.