Aug. 7, 2013

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Eleven members of the Fighting Illini men's gymnastics team earned All-America Scholar-Athlete recognition from the College Gymnastics Association, and the team earned recognition for having the ninth-best team GPA nationally at 3.111.

"In the never-ending mission of being a student-athlete, academics are always important in our program," head coach Justin Spring said. "We're happy to be ranked in the top 10. We're not just pushing for the 3.0 GPA; we have even higher standards than that. It's important to push academics to be a well-rounded program, and I'm proud of the way our guys performed in the classroom."

Alex Varga, Joey Peters, Cameron Rogers, Mike Wilner and Vince Smurro all received first-team honors, which went to student-athletes with GPAs above 3.5. Max Mayr, Malcolm Brown, Logan Bradley, Andrew Margolis, Jacob Tilsley and Cole Smith all earned second-team honors, which went to athletes above a 3.2 GPA.

Top-10 Academic Teams (Team GPA)
1. Stanford (3.445)
2. William & Mary (3.397)
3. Temple (3.352)
4. Springfield (3.304)
5. Navy (3.169)
6. Nebraska (3.164)
7. Michigan (3.147)
8. Minnesota (3.115)
9. Illinois (3.111)
10. Penn State (3.068)