No. 4 Illini Take Second at Tri-Meet in Columbus

Saturday, March 12

Columbus, Ohio

6:00 PM

University of Illinois

Ohio State w/ Nebraska

Senior Daniel Ribeiro won his fifth event title of the year on pommel horse.

March 12, 2011 | Men's Gymnastics

March 12, 2011

Complete Results

COLUMBUS, Ohio - The fourth-ranked Illinois men's gymnastics team finished in second place with a team score of 346.350 at a tri-meet Saturday night in Columbus, Ohio. Host No. 9 Ohio State took first with a score of 350.350, while No. 7 Nebraska rounded out the group in third with a final score of 334.550. The meet will air tape-delayed on the Big Ten Network next Saturday, March 19 at noon CT.

"I thought it was a better meet than last weekend even though our score was lower tonight," head coach Justin Spring said. "We did a good job of keeping our head in the game after a rough couple of early events. The way our season works, only two meets count - Big Tens and NCAAs. Mentally, we've shifted the way we approach these regular-season meets, but it's a huge deal to have our captains Daniel Ribeiro and Chad Wiest bringing great energy and hitting on routines when we need them to."

Seniors Ribeiro and Wiest led the way for the Illini once again, as Ribeiro earned his fifth event title of the year on pommel horse (15.300) and Wiest captured a first-place finish on floor (14.950), his third of the year on the event and fifth overall. Wiest also paced the Orange and Blue on vault with a second-place finish (15.850), in addition to placing fifth on high bar (14.300).

Junior Anthony Sacramento and freshman Jordan Valdez added a trio of second-place finishes on the day, as Sacramento claimed the runner-up spot on rings (15.250) and Valdez captured second on parallel bars (14.600) and high bar, tying his career-best score of 14.900.

In addition to top-five finishes, several Illini also recorded career-high scores, including redshirt junior Kyle Moe on rings (5th; 14.750), freshman Cameron Rogers on parallel bars (3rd; 14.450), and on high bar, redshirt sophomore Austin Phillips (3rd; 14.850) and junior Tyler Mizoguchi (4th; 14.600). Rounding out Illini in the top five were freshman Chad Mason on pommel horse (4th; 13.850) and junior C.J. Padera (5th; 14.600).