March 1, 2008

Complete Results

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The No. 5 Illinois men's gymnastics team worked from behind all afternoon against No. 11 Iowa, but with a season-high score on parallel bars (58.450), the Illini won their seventh straight dual meet over the Hawkeyes since 2001 by a score of 349.800-349.400 at the University of Iowa Field House today. Putting up a lineup that featured six freshmen and sophomores combined, the Fighting Illini used their young talent to overcome the best lineup Iowa could muster in Illinois' second road dual win of the season.

"With the thin lineup that we had today, we had a great performance," head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "We had a couple of guys pull out at the last moment on top of the fact that we were resting some of our top guys already. So all in all, we had the best happen with the situation we were given. We battled down to the wire, and to put up our season-best on parallel bars by only competing four gymnasts on the event was great. I hope that with this win we gained some confidence for our younger guys and our team as a whole will benefit from the weekend as we head into the rest of the season."

In the meet, Illinois posted 10 season highs and tied another, while also posting nine top-three finishes en route to capturing individual titles on floor exercise (Michael Boyer - 15.200), pommel horse (Daniel Ribeiro - 15.300), rings (Jon Drollinger, 15.500), parallel bars (Paul Ruggeri - 14.950) and horizontal bar (Paul Ruggeri - 15,000). In fact, Illinois had to make up almost three points in the team score down the stretch to overcome a fiery Hawkeye team that led for the entire day until the sixth and final rotation. Illinois capped off the win by grabbing team titles on pommel horse (58.850-57.350), parallel bars (58.450-56.750) and high bar (55.500-57.100).

While the afternoon was filled with career nights on multiple events, the leadership of senior Jon Drollinger and freshman Paul Ruggeri seemed to be the turning points for Illinois in the final three rotations. Drollinger kicked off the Illini comeback as he scored a career, team and the nation's seventh-best score this season with a 15.500 on still rings to win the event. Ruggeri, who captured both the parallel bars and high bar individual crowns with scores of 14.950 (career high) and 15.000, respectively, followed Drollinger to help polish off the Illini turnaround.

After posting one of his lowest scores of the season last weekend, freshman Daniel Ribeiro returned to his rightful place atop the pommel horse standings, as he recorded the fourth-highest score in the nation on the apparatus with a 15.300 to win his fourth horse title of the year. Ribeiro, who is ranked No. 1 on horse, owns three of the top-five scores in the nation on pommel to keep him a favorite for the NCAA title come mid-April.

Senior Michael Boyer, a pillar in Illinois' floor exercise lineup last season, showed signs of his former self in his title-performance on the event today, scoring a 15.200 - a career high - to outperform the entire field in Iowa City. Senior Tyler Yamauchi - co-captain alongside Boyer - did not leave empty-handed either, as he finished second on parallel bars with a 14.750.

Other notable outings for the Illini included freshman Roger Pasek competing on pommel horse for the first time this season to help Illinois win the team title over the Hawkeyes by more than a point, while sophomore Brian Liscovitz posted a career high on high bar (14.150). Junior Kyle Padera bested his career high on rings with his 14.000 in the event this afternoon, while sophomore Andres Saavedra carded a career-high 14.350 on p-bars as well. Junior Tyler Williamson rounded out the career afternoon by tying his career-best 14.700 on rings to earn second on the event.

Illinois returns to the gym on Saturday, March 8, as it hosts No. 6 Michigan at Huff Hall in Champaign. The meet will be a coed meet with the Illinois women's gymnastics team, who is hosting Missouri. The weekend also will mark the UI men's final home meet for its six seniors in Boyer, Ross Bradley, Drollinger, Wes Haagensen, Chris Silcox and Yamauchi. Fans are encouraged to not only see some of the best men's collegiate gymnasts in action next weekend, but to come out and help say good bye to a talented 2008 senior class.