Illinois Year in Review Top female athletes
· Yahoo Sports
Jul. 18—It was another strong year for Illinois track and field (again, mostly field) athletes, who dominate the list of top Illini female athletes. Beat writer Scott Richey spotlights the 10 best from 2025-26:
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1. Sophia Beckmon Track and field
No Illinois field athlete had ever won an indoor national championship before Beckmon cleared 22 feet, 51/4 inches to win the long jump at the NCAA indoor championship in Arkansas in mid-March. The Oregon City, Ore., native also won a Big Ten title in the event indoors (to go with a bronze in the 60-meter dash) and earned her second All-American honor of the year with a fourth-place finish at the NCAA outdoor championships.
2. Rose Yeboah Track and field
Yeboah wasn't at full strength at the NCAA outdoor championships in June, but a foot injury didn't stop the 2024 Olympian from clearing a season-best 6-4 to finish as the high jump runner-up. That made the native of Kumasi, Ghana, a double All-American this season after her sixth-place finish indoors. Yeboah also picked up a pair of silver medal finishes in the event at the Big Ten indoor and outdoor championships.
3. JaiCieonna Gero-Holt Track and field
Holt's second season in Champaign, but first competing, was an overwhelming success. The multi-event standout was national runner-up in the pentathlon and finished fourth in the high jump at the NCAA indoor championships after finishing second and fifth, respectively, in the Big Ten. Outdoors she won a Big Ten heptathlon title and followed that up with a third-place finish at the NCAA outdoor championships with a program record 6,010 points.
4. Meagan Humphries Track and field
Transferring to Illinois from Texas took Humphries' performance to a whole new level in the pentathlon and heptathlon. She broke the Big Ten indoor championships record with 4,459 points to win the pentathlon title — a first for the Illini since Camee' Williams in 2002. Humphries followed that up with a fifth-place finish in the heptathlon at the NCAA outdoors championships and also topped the 6,000-point mark with 6,008.
5. Berry Wallace Basketball
A young Illinois team leaned on its sophomore star this past season. Wallace was one of the Illini's few returning players, and she came through in a seriously expanded role. The 6-foot-1 forward led the Big Ten playing 35.7 minutes per game and was a unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection by the league coaches after averaging a career-best 18.4 points and 6.2 rebounds for a 22-12 team that reached the second round of the NCAA tournament.
6. Chloe Cho Gymnastics
Cho has been the most consistent gymnast on the Illinois roster since arriving on campus. Big Ten Freshman of the Year a year ago, Cho's follow-up this past season was a second straight All-Big Ten First Team honor and WCGA Regular Season All-American recognition. A total of 25 event titles — the third-most in a single season in program history — went a long way toward another standout season for the Santa Clarita, Calif. native.
7. McKenna Schaefbauer Tennis
The Big Ten made Schaefbauer a unanimous All-Big Ten First Team selection this spring after the Illinois senior closed out her collegiate career with a 23-10 record playing No. 1 singles for the Illini for the second straight year. The Normal native posted a 14-6 record in dual play and was 9-4 in the conference. Schaefbauer led Illinois with three wins against nationally-ranked opponents and climbed as high as No. 29 in the ITA singles rankings.
8. Izzy Lee Soccer
Ten shutouts got Lee in the Illinois record book, with those clean sheets the fourth most in a single season in program history. Lee's other efforts in goal got her name at the top of the record book with 123 total saves last fall, including a Big Ten-leading 74 in conference play. The Lyons Township grad, who holds the program's career save percentage record at .830, wound up an All-Big Ten Second Team selection after Illinois' bounce-back 2025 season.
9. Sarah Foley Soccer
Foley played a crucial role in Illinois posting its best start to a season in program history with four goals in two matches in the second week of the season. Foley was active at the point of attack for the Illini last fall, putting up career-high numbers in shots (48) and shots on goal (30). The Belleville West graduate earned All-Big Ten Second Team honors for a second straight season, and her seven goals and 17 points were key to a 13-6-2 season.
10. Taylor de Boer Volleyball
An illness kept de Boer off the court in 2023 and still limited her in 2024. Fully healthy with a key role to play in 2025, the 6-4 outside hitter wound up an All-Big Ten Second Team selection after leading Illinois in kills (368), kills per set (3.57), points (385) and points per set (3.74). De Boer had double-digit kills in 23 of the Illini's 29 matches and finished her first full season on the court ranked eighth in the Big Ten in kills per set.