CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Fighting Illini gymnastics programs made their 2016-17 season debuts at the Orange and Blue meet on Sunday afternoon that ended in a narrow 13-12 victory for the Orange team.
"They love competing and they love performing, so this is a show," women's head coach Kim Landrus said. "They have been waiting a long time and waiting the entire preseason to finally come to this moment on Sunday and it means a ton!"
The exhibition ended in a 12-12 tie after the final rotation, but an iron cross challenge was used to break the tie. Alex Diab held the cross for 25.2 seconds to give the Orange Team the win, besting the 14.6 seconds that Dennis Minton held for the Blue team.
"There were some highs, some lows, it's typical of an exhibition to be a little all over the map," men's head coach Justin Spring said. "We still have about five weeks before the season (starts). I saw some exhilarating moments, guys really stepping up and some amazing routines. A majority of the performances today definitely need those five weeks. We are fairly banged up right now and we have a lot we need to improve on. We have the time to do so, so we need to capitalize on the five weeks moving forward."
Orange and Blue traded points in the first four events, with Tom Gibbs winning on pommel horse and Taylor Smith taking the point on floor for the Orange, and Sarah Lyons took the vault point while teammate Lizzy LeDuc won on uneven bars for the Blue. Ross Thompson added a point on high bar, and Haylee Roe won on beam to give Blue a 4-2 lead at the end of the first rotation.
In the second rotation, Brittany Jones continued the streak of wins for the Blue Team on vault, before Harry McLellan took to the point on pommel horse for Orange. Bridget Hodan and Johnny Jacobson won on floor and still rings, respectively, for Blue. Lindsay Dwyer earned the point on uneven bars and Sebastian Quiana won on floor for the Orange Team, making the score 7-5 in favor of the Blue squad at the halfway mark.
Orange won the first four points in the third rotation, as Matt Foster won on pommel horse, Erin Buchanan took the beam point, Chandler Eggleston won on parallel bars and Brielle Nguyen earned the point for vault. In the last two events of the rotation, the Blue Team's Jacob Light and Sarah Lyons took the points on vault and uneven bars, respectively, evening the score at 9-9 heading into the final rotation.
The first two points in the fourth rotation went to the Orange Team, with Rae Balthazor and Alex Diab earning the wins on vault and still rings, respectively. The Blue Team would get the next two wins, as Bridget Hodan won on beam and Tyson Bull won on high bar. Lizzy LeDuc earned the floor point to give Blue a 12-11 lead heading into the final event, but Joey Peters would win on parallel bars to tie the score up at 12.
The Illini women's team will hit the road to begin regular season action, and will take on Missouri and Ball State at Missouri at 7 p.m. on January 6. The men will start their regular season in Chicago at the Windy City Invitational on January 14 at 7:30 p.m.
