University of Illinois
Minnesota w/ Nebraska
No. 1 Illinois Victorious at Tri-Meet
January 22, 2011 | Men's Gymnastics
Jan. 22, 2011
MINNEAPOLIS - The top-ranked Illini men's gymnastics team (7-0) was dominant once again, tallying an overall score of 351.500 to down host No. 7 Minnesota (344.100) and No. 9 Nebraska (333.100) Saturday night at the Sports Pavilion in Minneapolis. Senior Paul Ruggeri led the way with three individual titles, including a first-place tie on floor (14.900) with teammate junior Tyler Mizoguchi, while senior Daniel Ribeiro claimed the top spot on pommel horse (15.300) and junior Anthony Sacramento tied for first on rings (15.000).
"The guys did well and I was impressed with the fight they showed once again," head coach Justin Spring said. "It was a little rougher because the judges were harder on scores. There's just one judge for execution deductions and he was really tight, but he was consistent, so it was fair. One of the positives we want to take away from every meet is to have four solid routines on every event and we did that two weeks in a row now. That will allow us to focus on the details and begin perfecting routines. It's early and there's still a lot of time left, but the guys are in a great place."
In addition to floor, Ruggeri also posted first-place finishes on parallel bars (14.500) and high bar (16.100) and placed second on vault (16.200). Mizoguchi, who was the lone Illini competing in the all-around, captured the top spot with a final all-around score of 87.200.
Several Illini finished the night in the top five including junior C.J. Padera, who placed second on high bar (14.700) and tied for second on parallel bars with Mizoguchi (14.300), while Ribeiro took third on floor (14.700) and fifth on parallel bars (14.200), Mizoguchi finished in fourth on rings (14.400) and senior Chad Wiest was fourth on vault with a career-high tying score of 15.900. Two Illini freshmen also cracked the top five as Jordan Valdez tied for third on high bar (14.400) and Chad Mason tied for fourth on pommel horse (14.300).
As a team, Illinois led on five of six events including floor (58.000), pommel horse (57.100), rings (56.500), parallel bars (57.300) and high bar (59.400).
The Illini return to Huff Hall next weekend for their first home meet of the season against No. 10 Iowa on Saturday, Jan. 29 at noon. The meet will be held in conjunction with the Illini women's gymnastics team's meet against No. 17 Iowa. "Gym Jam" will feature free food for the first 1,000 fans beginning at 11 a.m. at Huff Hall and an autograph session with both teams following the meet.
