If its seeding wasn’t telling enough, the results told the story for the No. 13 Illinois women’s gymnastics team.

The Illini entered the NCAA Central Regional on Saturday as the No. 3 seed. They left with a third-place finish. The team’s score of 195.425 was not enough to upset top-seeded and No. 1 Alabama (197.400), or No. 12 Nebraska (195.875), the regional’s No. 2 seed.

“It was a little tough waiting out the bye, making it hard to transfer the energy from the vault to the bars,” head coach Bob Starkell said of the Illini’s rotation. “The energy level we had was exciting, and we came out strong in the first event, probably one of our better vaulting days. We probably lost maybe four tenths of a point on silly things we don’t do in practice. And that was the difference in between our strong start and strong finish on the floor.”

Illinois tallied a 49.025 on the vault and a 49.225 on the floor, their first and last events. The high scores on the two events were marred by below-season-average performances on the bars, with a score of 48.575, and on the beam, with a score of 48.600.

While Illinois fell short of qualifying for the NCAA Championships as a team, senior Sarah Schmidt and junior Allison Buckley did their part en route to claiming their spots as individual qualifiers. Schmidt secured her place for next week’s individual NCAA Championships by finishing as the top all-around gymnast on a non-qualifying team, scoring a 39.225.

Buckley tied for the top spot on the vault, posting a 9.900 to qualify in the event. The regional title is the second of Buckley’s career after she won on the beam last season. Buckley will vie for her second All-American recognition after receiving second-team honors in 2008 on the beam.

“Obviously we wanted to go down (to Florida) as a team,” Buckley said. “But I get to go represent the University along with Sarah, and that is exciting. It will be a little weird to be just focusing on one event. But because it is just one event for me, hopefully, I can just put everything I’ve got into it.”

Schmidt will also be vying for a chance to become a two-time All-American after earning the honor on the floor event last year. The opportunity for Schmidt is one that neither she nor the coaches predicted.

“Coming in, Sarah didn’t really compete in the all-around,” Starkell said. “She, as a gymnast, improved week by week and so much year by year. And she is at her strongest level right now, giving her a successful senior season. She took a little different approach this week from last and enjoyed some success. Now she has a chance to compete another day, and we’ve got a chance to have another All-American.”

Schmidt is ready for the chance to do well at nationals, which will be hosted by the University of Florida from April 22-24.

“I’m excited for the opportunity,” Schmidt said. “Of course I wanted to be there with the team. But nationals is a really amazing atmosphere, to go and compete with the best. The whole time it was emotional because I knew it could be my last meet. But to end strong on the floor like that, although not my best, I was happy to go out and finish in my last team event like that.”