The University of Illinois men's gymnastics team traveled to Minnesota on Saturday to take on the Golden Gophers in a duel meet. The Fighting Illini were narrowly defeated by a score of 208.450 to 206.800. The third ranked Illini were led by junior Scott Wetterling, who placed second in the all-around with a score of 52.000.

"Scott had a very good all-around score today," said head coach Yoshi Hayasaki. "And the best part of it is that he had some misses today, which means there is still much room for him to improve his score."

On the way to his second-place finish, Wetterling took first on the high bar (9.025) and tied for first on the rings (8.750). Freshman Justin Spring, competing in his first collegiate competition, helped the Illini by taking second in both the floor exercise (9.250) and the vault (9.175). Other second place finishers for the Illini were junior Bob Rogers in the Pommel Horse (9.050) and freshman Adam Pummer in the high bar (8.575).

Several key members Illini were once again hampered by injuries. Sophomore All-American Peter Shostchuk only participated in one event while freshman standouts Pummer and Spring participated in two events each.

"Hopefully in another week or two, we'll be completely healthy and able to compete at a higher level," said Hayasaki. "Right now we just need to do the best can until everyone is 100% and we can put together the kind of team we want."

The Illini will open their home schedule on Feb. 1 at Huff Hall against Ohio State. That meet will be a co-ed meet with the Fighting Illini women's squad also taking on Ohio State. Start time is 7 p.m.