Feb. 8, 2009
LAS VEGAS - Illinois sophomore Paul Ruggeri captured the gold medal on high bar at the 2009 Winter Cup Challenge at the Las Vegas Sports Center in Las Vegas, Nev. Ruggeri, the reigning NCAA high bar champion, had a combined score from the two days of competition of 30.500 on the event, edging out Olympian Joey Hagerty (30.450) for the national title. In other Illini news, sophomore Daniel Ribeiro finished runner-up on pommel horse with a combined score of 30.000.
Scores from both days of competition counted toward the final rankings for the all-around and individual events.
"We had a good showing this weekend with five guys advancing to the finals," head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "Paul competed one his most difficult and amazing routines on high bar and hit, wowing the crowd. He is certainly following in the same steps as current assistant coach Justin Spring. Paul has accomplished two extraordinary things so far in his career by winning the NCAA High Bar title last year as a freshman and now becoming a US National Champion as a sophomore."
Ruggeri, originally scheduled to compete in the all-around competition was forced to withdraw from three events after suffering an injury on the first day of competition. The Manlius, N.Y., native also placed 18th on parallel bars with a combined score of 27.400.
The Illini had tremendous success on floor as Ribeiro came in eighth place on floor after posting a score of 14.700 on both days of competition for a total of 29.400, just behind another Illini sophomore Roger Pasek who had an impressive showing at this year's Winter Cup, placing sixth on floor with a two-day total of 29.400.
"Daniel had an outstanding second day of competition with a 15.500 on pommel horse," Hayasaki added. "He showed that when he performs the routine he's capable of, he's incredible on the event. Roger had one of the best performances of his career as he hit all six of his routines at Winter Cup."
In the all-around competition freshmen Tyler Mizoguchi and C.J. Padera came in 24th and 27th place, respectively. Mizoguchi saw his highest finish of the competition on floor as he tallied a combined score of 29.000 for a 13th place finish. Padera's highest scoring event came on pommel horse as the Winfield, Ill., native posted a score of 27.650 after two days of competition, for 16th place.
"Both of our freshmen performed extremely well and it says a lot that they made it to finals as two of the top 42 gymnasts in the country," Hayasaki said.
Seven gymnasts were named to the U.S. Men's Senior National Team based on the national team points ranking system from the Winter Cup Challenge: Guillermo Alvarez of Denver/Minnesota Gymnastics; Chris Brooks of Houston, Texas/University of Oklahoma; Chris Cameron of Winter Haven, Fla./University of Michigan; Steven Legendre of Flower Mound, Texas/University of Oklahoma; Leyva; Nakamori; and Sender. 2008 Olympic team bronze-medalists Hagerty and Jonathan Horton of Houston/University of Oklahoma, were placed on the national team by petition. Six additional gymnasts will be named later to the team. The 15 gymnasts named to the squad will comprise the U.S. Men's Senior National Team until the 2009 Visa Championships in August.
For complete results of the 2009 Winter Cup Challenge visit usa-gymnastics.org.
The Illini now return home for a nationally-televised meet on the Big Ten Network against No. 5 Penn State on Saturday, Feb. 14 at 7 p.m. The first 300 fans will receive an autographed picture of 2008 Olympic Bronze Medalist and Illinois assistant coach Justin Spring. The meet will air tape-delayed on the Big Ten Network on Saturday, Feb. 20 at 5 p.m. CT.
