Jan. 26, 2002
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Illinois men's gymnastics team soundly defeated the Minnesota Golden Gophers, 214.250-208.800, Saturday night in front of 680 fans at Huff Hall. The men's record now stands at 6-1 overall, 4-1 in the Big Ten.
"We posted the highest score of the season," said head coach Yoshi Hayasaki. "Our goal was a 213. Everyone stood out and made a difference tonight. Our pommels, rings and vault teams really made quite a difference for us. We trained hard this week and it shows."
The Golden Gophers led by 0.1 after the first rotation. But the Illini exploded on the pommel horse in rotation two by setting a season-high team score of 36.600. It was the team's highest score on pommels this season by more than a point. Illinois took the top three spots in that event, led by senior Jonathan Plante's event winning 9.55. Plante's score was followed by two career highs by sophomore Bob Rodgers (9.30) for second place and freshman Ben Newman (9.15) for third.
The rings team also set a new season-high team total of 36.300 and took the top three honors. Seniors J.G. Ketchen (9.45), Sean-Paul Crawford (9.20) and Plante (9.00) finished first, second and third, respectively.
With the momentum on their side, the Illini scored a 36.600 on vault to set yet another season-high team score. Sophomore Scott Wetterling finished second with a 9.30 while teammates Crawford, junior Bob Spelic and sophomore Erik Garnett tied for fourth with a 9.10.
Ketchen led the parallel bar team to its season-high score of 34.750. Ketchen scored his own season-high of 8.85 to win the event. The Illini kept up the pace in the final event. Scoring a season-high 35.700, Illinois took the top four positions on the high bar. Illinois was led by freshman Ed Seward's career high 9.0 for first place followed by Rogers (8.95), Spelic (8.90) and Wetterling (8.85).
The Illini take to the road for the month on February. Coming up next is a Saturday afternoon meet against the Nittany Lions of Penn State on Feb. 2. The meet will be held at State College. The Illini will be at Huff Hall again for their final home meet on March 9 against Illinois-Chicago at 2 p.m.
Results
Floor:
1. Alvarez Minn 9.400
2. Shostchuk Ill 8.900
3. Strother Minn 8.650
4. Steele Minn 8.600
5. Garnett Ill 8.550
6T. Goss Minn 8.500
6T. Rogers Ill 8.500
8T. Callahan Minn 8.350
8T. Seward Ill 8.350
10. Koehler Minn 8.300
11. Wetterling Ill 8.250
12. Crawford Ill 8.100
Floor Scores:
Ill: 34.300 Minn: 35.150
Pommel:
1. Plante Ill 9.550
2. Rogers Ill 9.300
3. Newman Ill 9.150
4. Alvarez Minn 8.750
5. Goss Minn 8.700
6. Filla Ill 8.600
7. Stother Minn 8.550
8. Shostchuk Ill 8.500
9. Griffin Minn 8.400
10. Wetterling Ill 8.300
11. Albert Minn 7.750
12. Steele Ill 6.850
Pommel Scores:
Ill: 36.600 Minn: 34.400
Rings:
1. Ketchen Ill 9.450
2. Crawford Ill 9.200
3. Plante Ill 9.000
4. Mays Minn 8.900
5T. Steele Minn 8.800
5T. Suarez Minn 8.800
7T. Strother Minn 8.650
7T. Wetterling Ill 8.650
7T. Newman Ill 8.650
10. Alvarez Minn 8.550
11. Koehler Minn 8.500
12. Cano Ill 7.600
Rings Score:
Ill: 36.300 Minn: 35.150
Vault:
1. Steele Minn 9.350
2. Wetterling Ill 9.300
3. Strother Minn 9.200
4T. Spelic Ill 9.100
4T. Crawford Ill 9.100
4T. Garnett Ill 9.100
7T. Ketchen Ill 9.050
7T. Goss Minn 9.050
7T. Filla Ill 9.050
10. Alvarez Minn 9.000
11T. Koehler Minn 8.950
11T. Callahan Minn 8.950
Vault Scores:
Ill: 36.600 Minn: 36.600
P Bars:
1. Alvarez Minn 8.850
2. Ketchen Ill 8.800
3T. Goss Minn 8.700
3T. Plante Ill 8.700
3T. Spelic Ill 8.700
6T. Shostchuk Ill 8.550
6T. Cano Ill 8.550
8. Griffin Minn 8.500
9. Strother Minn 8.100
10. Callahan Minn 8.000
11. Wetterling Ill 7.350
12. Steele Minn 6.750
P. Bars Score:
Ill: 34.750 Minn: 34.150
H. Bar:
1. Seward Ill 9.000
2. Rogers Ill 8.950
3. Spelic Ill 8.900
4. Wetterling Ill 8.850
5. Alvarez Minn 8.500
6. Callahan Minn 8.450
7T. Strother Minn 8.200
7T. Koehler Minn 8.200
9T. Ketchen Ill 8.150
9T. Kristjansson Minn 8.150
11. Shostchuk Ill 7.450
12. Steele Minn 6.850
H. Bar Scores:
Ill: 35.700 Minn: 33.350
All-Around
1. Alvarez Minn 53.050
2. Strother Minn 51.350
3. Wetterling Ill 50.700
4. Steele Minn 47.200
Final Score:
Ill: 214.250 Minn: 208.800
