University of Illinois
Oklahoma w/ Penn State
No. 4 Illini Finish Second at Tri-Meet in Oklahoma
March 19, 2011 | Men's Gymnastics
March 19, 2011
Complete Results
NORMAN, Okla. - The fourth-ranked Illinois men's gymnastics team posted a season-high score of 359.100 to take second Saturday night behind host No. 2 Oklahoma (366.400) and ahead of No. 5 Penn State (356.750) in their final road meet of the regular season. Senior Daniel Ribeiro (pommel horse) and junior Tyler Mizoguchi (parallel bars) each claimed individual event titles, while several Illini added career and season highs on the night.
"We finally competed like we knew we can tonight," head coach Justin Spring said. "It was by no means perfect, but I think we're in a fantastic place heading into Big Tens in a couple weeks. We kept up with Oklahoma for a while but they just had an outstanding meet. We hit about 42 percent at Ohio State last weekend and about 72 percent tonight, so our scoring was much higher and we had a much better hit percentage."
Ribeiro recorded a season-high mark of 15.950 on pommel horse, just shy of his career best 16.000, to claim his sixth title of the year and third straight on the event, while Mizoguchi recorded a career-high score on four of six events and the all-around. In addition to a first-place finish on parallel bars (15.500), Mizoguchi also took second on vault (16.250) and all-around (90.800), tied for fourth on high bar (14.800) and finished sixth on floor (15.300). The all-around mark is a new school record under the FIG open ended code of points established in 2008. He also tallied a season-high score of 15.050 to tie for seventh on rings with teammate junior Anthony Sacramento.
"Tyler competed in the all-around like he has been in practice," Spring said. "He's been in great shape all year and today he showed he'll be a solid contender for the all-around title at NCAAs."
A trio of Illini added third-place finishes for the Illini, including senior Chad Wiest on floor (15.800), sophomore Yoshi Mori on pommel horse with a season-high score of 14.850 and redshirt sophomore Austin Phillips on high bar with a career-best score of 15.100. Wiest also tied his career high on vault (15.900) for the fourth time this season, while freshman Alex Varga recorded career highs on floor (15.250) and vault (15.850).
As a team, Illinois posted season highs on rings (59.250) and vault (63.550) and tallied its highest score on floor (60.800) and parallel bars (58.450) since the first meet of the season.
The Illini will close out the regular season next Saturday, March 26 against No. 13 UIC at 3 p.m. at Huff Hall. Seniors Daniel Ribeiro and Chad Wiest will be honored following the meet for their accomplishments as members of the Illinois men's gymnastics team.
