Feb. 6, 2003
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Two members of the Illinois men's gymnastics team, freshman Adam Pummer and junior Bob Rogers, will be competing at the USA Gymnastics-sponsored Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas, Nev. this Friday and Saturday (Feb. 7-8). Pummer will be competing in the all-around competition, while Rogers will be taking part floor exercise, pommel horse and high bar events. The two will be competing against over 80 of the nations top gymnasts, who will all be trying to nab one of three remaining spots on the U.S. National Team.
The first day of competion will consist of the all-around final and indivudual event qualifying. Day two will be the individual event finals with the top eight places from day one advancing in each event.
Former Illini gymnast Linh Hoang (1998-2001) will also be competing at the Winter Cup. Houng was and All-American for the Illini in 2001 on the still rings and currently holds the school record of 9.90 on the vault.
Last Year At The Winter Cup
In 2002 six Illini recieved invitations to compete in the Winter Cup. J.G Ketchen, Scott Wetterling, Ben Newman, Jonathan Plante, Bob Spelic and Sean-Paul Crawford all represented the Orange and Blue at the Challenge.
Newman led the Illini delegation in the finals with a score of 8.700 good for a fourth place finish on the pommel horse. Ketchen took fifth on the high bar, scoring a 7.450. Wetterling came in fifth on the vault with an average of 8.887 on his vaults from the two rounds.
Last Time Out
The No. 11 Illinois men's gymnastics team had its best outing of the season last Saturday, scoring a season high 212.300 points in front of 981 fans at Huff Hall. The effort was not enough however, as No. 3 Ohio State scored 215.850 to take the win.
Adam Pummer highlighted the individual performances for the Illini. The freshman won the all-around with a season and career high score of 53.100. His best performance of the day was a 9.250 on the vault, which was good enough for third place. Pummer also took second place on the parallel bars with a score of 9.000.
Other top performances for the Illini included Bob Rogers on (9.500, second) and Ben Newman (9.300, third) on the pommel horse, Scott Wetterling on the vault (9.300, second) and Justin Spring on the High Bar (9.100, third).
Illini Jump To No. 6 In Rankings
The Illini jumped five spots to No. 6 in the latest GymInfo Rankings thanks to their strong performance vs. Ohio State.
The Illini bettered their season high scores in every event except the floor exercise. Their totals of 36.800 on the pommel horse, 34.900 on the rings, 36.900 on vault, 34.200 on the parallel bars and 35.150 on the high bar were all season bests for Illinois.
Up Next
The full squad will be back in action on Feb. 15, when the Illini travel to Philadelphia, Pa. to take on Penn State, Temple and William & Mary at 1 p.m.
