March 15, 2008

Complete Results

CHICAGO - The No. 6 Illinois men's gymnastics team put on quite a show in the Windy City tonight, taking down No. 14 Illinois-Chicago for the 13th straight time in the series with a score of 354.850-342.950 at the UIC Physical Education Building in Chicago. Illinois won its third straight dual behind its third-highest score of the season, as senior Tyler Yamauchi and freshman Roger Pasek both paced the Illini with a pair of event titles in the winning effort.

"There is no question about it, we are finally starting to put everything together," head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "We used a lot of different people today in the lineup and had a chance to see what some different guys could do. The guys have been working really hard during the week and that hard work is starting to pay off in our competitions."

The Illini might have been the road team against the Flames tonight, but the UIC Physical Education Building had streaks of Orange and Blue and chants of I-L-L-I-N-I overwhelming the stands. Behind that backing, Illinois took down UIC for the second time this season, previously finishing second compared to the Flames sixth-place showing at the season-opening Windy City Invitational in early January - also hosted by Illinois-Chicago.

In all, nine different Illini posted career-bests or tied one, two different Orange and Blue men posted scores that ranked in the top 10 in the country (Tyler Yamauchi, Daniel Ribeiro) and Fighting Illini gymnasts charted a total of 15 top-three finishes.

Individually, the Fighting Illini claimed titles on five different events, including the sweep of the top-three places on two separates apparatus (floor, parallel bars), while owning two out of the top three on the rest to dominate the podium for the second straight week.

Though the lineup was missing all-arounders freshman Paul Ruggeri and senior Wes Haagensen, the Illini were in good hands with multiple gymnasts stepping up in their absence. In fact, Illinois took the team title on every apparatus, including tying its season-high 58.200 on pommel horse to edge the Flames (54.150). The score also tied Illinois' previous fourth-highest score in the country it set against Michigan (3/8), making it back-to-back weeks the Illini have posted a top-five score in the nation on the event.

Yamauchi carried the load for the Illini on rings as he charted a 15.500 for the night, just .150 off his career best, but still good enough to rank tied for ninth-highest in the nation in 2008. The Illini senior also scored 14.900 on parallel bars, putting him in a four-way tie for the crown.

Joining Yamauchi with a pair of titles was Pasek, who made each of his performances count tonight by winning floor exercise (15.300) and vault (15.700). The talented Illini also posted a career-high 14.000 on pommel horse to help Illinois card a top-five score in the nation on the apparatus.

Sophomore Luke Stannard also came through for Illinois in the triumph, as he took home silver performances on pommel horse (14.900) and floor exercise (14.900). His mark on pommel tied his career high he set against No. 2 Penn State, while his mark on floor also was a career best.

In what has become routine for the Illini youngster, freshman Daniel Ribeiro claimed his sixth individual crown on pommel horse with his 15.300, the tied for sixth-best mark in the country. On the year, the UI gymnast owns five of the top-10 scores in the country on pommel, all of them earning him titles.

Sophomore Andres Saavedra made an emphatic comeback to the gym after missing most of the season with an injury, posting two career bests (floor, still rings) in the outing. His mark on parallel bars (14.900) placed him in a four-way tie for first place, while his mark on vault (15.350) earned him a third-place finish. Sophomore Brian Liscovitz was the final Illini involved in the four-way tie on parallel bars (14.900), while he also hit a solid vault in his first appearance in the event this year.

Other notable superlatives in the win included junior Tyler Williamson filling in nicely for the Illini on floor and vault, both performances resulting in career-highs. Senior Ross Bradley also made a return to the lineup as well, finishing second on high bar with a 14.350 outing, followed by fellow senior Chris Silcox (14.250), who took third. Rounding out the top three finishes for Illinois were senior Michael Boyer, who took home third on floor, while senior Jon Drollinger scored a 15.000 for bronze honors on rings.

"Now it is a matter of working on our execution," Hayasaki said his Illini will focus on heading into Big Tens. "It is not enough to just hit our routines, but we have to work on execution and working out all the small deductions. Just hitting routines is not going to cut it when you are trying to win a Big Ten and NCAA title. We have worked on our consistency, now we are ready to move to the next step to make our team competitive on the national level."

Illinois concludes regular season action next Friday, March 21 when it travels to Minneapolis to take on the Minnesota Golden Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes in a Big Ten tri-meet at the Sports Pavilion on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The meet marks the second time Illinois has faced both teams and will serve as the Fighting Illini's final tune-up meet before heading to the 2008 Big Ten Championships. Action is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT in Minneapolis.

This year's league championship will be hosted by defending NCAA champion Penn State University at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa., April 4-5. Three-time defending champion Ohio State will have quite a challenge fending off the hungry Illini and the No. 2-ranked Nittany Lions in this year's edition of the conference race.