Results

COLUMBUS, OHIO - For the third-straight weekend the Illinois men's gymnastics team has bested the competition as the Illini took down No. 6 Ohio State by a 434.400-431.700 decision in Columbus, Ohio, Saturday evening. The overall team score ranks as the sixth best score to date for the Illinois program.

Despite a slow start on the pommel horse, and a 69.700-71.000 deficit, the Illini fought their way back to start the season 7-0 for the first time since the 2011 campaign. Head coach Justin Spring shared "We started with some rough horse routines, but our veterans pulled us out of trouble."

Matt Foster led the Orange and Blue on pommel horse with a 14.600, the team's third best mark on the season, and finished third in the event. Logan Bradley followed with a 14.500 for fourth and Brandon Ngai turned in his best score yet, a 14.400, to finish in the fifth spot.

Bobby Baker picked up his fourth event title of the season on the fourth different apparatus as he took the floor title for the Illini with a 15.400 mark, the best score of the season thus far. Taylor Smith finished second in the event with a score of 14.650, a career-high. Joey Peters finished fifth in the event with a 14.300 reading.

Without still rings specialist C.J. Maestas, the team registered a combined mark of 75.650 on rings, the fourth best score in team history. Mike Wilner led the pack with a 15.900; the best mark for the Illini yet this season and a tie for Wilner's career high along with the title. Peters claimed the third spot on rings with a 15.350, while Baker registered a score of 15.200. Max Mayr finished sixth (14.800), Tom Gibbs (14.400) took seventh and Dennis Minton (14.350) eighth.

"We had an amazing ring performance, even without C.J.," shared Spring.

Gibbs led Illinois on the vault with a second place finish after carding a 15.150, the team's best vault mark on the 2015 season. Baker tied for fourth in the event with a 14.650 reading, while Peters turned in a 14.550.

Peters came away with his first parallel bars title of the season after sporting a 14.750. Jordan Valdez finished a close second with a 14.700 mark. Foster and Maestas tied for eighth with a score of 13.750 on the evening.

The Illini high bar unit also set a new team mark of 73.850, which bested the old mark of 73.350 set at Ohio State during the 2013 season. Maestas and Valdez also set new team-best marks on the season with scores of 15.550 and 15.100 for first and fourth respectively. Bradley and Gibbs finished tied for sixth with a mark of 14.450, a career-best for both individuals. Mayr recorded a 14.300 to round out Illinois' score.

Peters took home his second all-around title of the season with a combined score of 86.500. Gibbs adjusted his career-best mark to 83.800 taking second in the all-around.

"Joey really did his job for us today," said Spring. "He only missed one routine."

Illinois will host its first competition of the season next weekend as Minnesota comes to town. The Illini men's and women's teams will be in action starting at 4 p.m. CST on Saturday, Jan. 31 at the annual Pink Meet.