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CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Returning to Chicago for the second-straight weekend, the Illini will take part in the Windy City Invitational hosted by UIC at the UIC Pavilion. The competition is slated to start at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday evening. Also competing at the invite will be Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Ohio State.

COACH SPRING'S OUTLOOK

"Windy City is a HUGE season opener with three top-five schools in the country in attendance," stated Spring. "We are still fighting to get some of our depth back on vault and floor with the loss of Chandler and Fred (temporarily), but this should be a good competition for us. I think our season opener at UIC was an eye-opener and had a lot of good learning lessons, and the team responded well to this week of training. This weekend will certainly be intense and give us a good understanding of where most of the Big Ten sits compared to us!"

LAST YEAR AT WINDY CITY INVITATIONAL

Illinois finished tied for second with Ohio State at the 2014 Windy City Invitational with a score of 436.050. Michigan won the event with a mark of 437.500 while Minnesota took fourth at 424.800 followed by Iowa at 417.700 and UIC (395.500).

INJURIES

Illinois was forced to start the season without sophomore Chandler Eggleston and junior Fred Hartville. Eggleston underwent surgery on Wednesday to repair a ruptured patella tendon. He will redshirt the 2015 season. Hartville is expected to return in a few weeks after hyper-extending his knee.

LAST WEEKEND

The Illinois men's gymnastics team opened the 2015 season with a 429.100 - 390.150 win over UIC on Friday, Jan. 9 at the UIC Pavilion. Illinois has bested the Flames the last 23 head-to-head meetings dating back to the 1994 season.

Freshman Bobby Baker made his collegiate debut at the meet and finished with both the pommel horse and parallel bars titles. Redshirt-junior C.J. Maestas also clinched a pair of titles at the meet coming on floor and rings. Reigning national champion, Jordan Valdez, brought home the high bar title. Joey Peters topped the scoreboard in the all-around competition and tied UIC's Brett Valin for the vault title to account for the Illini's other two titles of the evening.

ALL-TIME RECORDS AGAINST THE FIELD

Iowa: 145-81
Michigan: 116-87-1
Minnesota: 149-93
Ohio State: 101-74-2
UIC: 69-16

RECORD BOOK REVISIONS AT UIC

On the still rings Illinois turned in a record-best team score of 71.200. The previous mark was 71.000 set at Ohio State on Feb. 23, 2013.

C.J. Maestas recorded a 15.850 to tie himself for the fifth-best all-time rings score.

B1G WEEKLY AWARDS

Fighting Illini freshman Bobby Baker earned his first Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor following his two-title performance in Illinois' victory over UIC Friday evening. Joey Peters was named the B1G Gymnast of the Week after grabbing a share of the vault title and capturing the all-around title Friday evening as well.

Baker took home the pommel horse and parallel bar titles with scores of 14.050 and 14.850, respectively. The Lemont, Ill. native finished third on vault (14.900), fourth on floor (13.550), sixth on rings (13.900) and registered a 13.300 on high bar. Baker finished third in the all-around with a mark of 84.550.

Peters shared the vault title with a mark of 15.000 (career-high) and won the all-around competition with a score of 86.550 (career-high). The Orefield, Pa. native turned in a pair of runner-up finishes coming on floor (14.700) and parallel bars (14.800). Peters finished third on rings (15.300), tied for fourth on high bar (13.800) and produced a 12.950 on pommel horse.

NO. 5 IN NATIONAL RANKINGS

The Blue and Orange started the season ranked fifth in the CGA Preseason Coaches' Poll. Oklahoma came in at No. 1, followed by Michigan in second, Ohio State in third and Stanford in fourth. This is the seventh-straight season Illinois has ranked in the top-five of the preseason poll.

NO. 3 IN B1G PRESEASON POLL

Illinois checked in at No. 3 in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches' Poll for the second consecutive season. Ohio State took the top spot, while Michigan came in second, Penn State in fourth, Minnesota in fifth, Iowa in sixth and Nebraska in seventh. Reigning NCAA high bar champion, Jordan Valdez, was named one of two Big Ten Gymnasts to Watch from Illinois, along with C.J. Maestas, who was the 2012 NCAA still rings champion before missing the 2013 season due to injury.

RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS

The Illini lost just one All-American from the 2014 season to graduation in Chad Mason (PH). Jordan Valdez (HB, PB), Maestas (FX, SR, AA), Logan Bradley (PH) and Mike Wilner (SR) are All-Americans returning for the 2015 season. Chandler Eggleston, who earned All-American status on floor and vault at the 2014 NCAA National Championships, will redshirt the 2015 season due to a ruptured patella tendon.

UP NEXT

The Orange and Blue will return to action next weekend when they head to Columbus to take on the Buckeyes. The competition is set for Sat. Jan. 24 at 3 p.m. CST.