University of Illinois
Big Ten Event Finals
Fighting Illini Storm Through B1G Event Finals
March 29, 2015 | Men's Gymnastics
| Spring Interview | Highlights
Baker Interview | Hartville Interview | Maestas Interview | Valdez Interview
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - Bobby Baker made his name known at the Big Ten Championships as he was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year and Freshman of the Year, in addition to finishing second in the all-around. In their final seasons at Illinois, C.J. Maestas (floor) and Jordan Valdez (co-parallel bars) each added a Big Ten title to their resume, as well as Fred Hartville who won the vault title. All seven Illinois athletes that made it to the Event Finals of the Big Ten Championships finished in the top-three places in at least one of their events.
"Overall productive night, the guys really had some standout performances tonight," shared head coach Justin Spring. It was a very sweet finish to a rollercoaster of a weekend."
Baker was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and Gymnast of the Year after claiming six Freshman of the Week accolades in combination with a pair of Gymnast of the Week honors. Baker has claimed 10 event titles on the season across five events, including four all-around titles. The freshman has already etched his way into the Illinois record book and currently holds the fourth-best all-around score in school history after an 89.550 showing against Penn State on Valentine's Day. He is the first Illinois gymnast to claim both accolades in the same season since Maestas.
"I think Bobby won that Gymnast of the Year award because he was a work horse for us and just kept pounding out all-arounds weekend after weekend," said Spring.
A day after taking second place in the all-around, Baker was the first Illini gymnast to compete on the evening and scored a 14.300 on the pommel horse to finish ninth on the event. He also qualified for the vault finals and turned in a 15.100 to finish with a share of third place.
Maestas kept the Big Ten floor exercise title in the program as he claimed the title with a score of 15.400 for his seventh floor event title of the season, a tie for the sixth most in a single season by an Illini gymnast. Maestas also took sole possession of the 10th spot on the all-time floor titles list with the win.
"It is indescribable," Maestas said of the floor title. "It's exciting going out there and just doing my job. It's nice to come out with a win, a little upset with team finals, but you know, a win's a win."
The Corrales, New Mexico, native also qualified for the parallel bars Event Finals and scored a 13.400 for ninth place.
Joey Peters turned in a 15.650 on the still rings to finish second of the rings finalists. The Illini junior also qualified for the Event Finals on high bar and finished in the 10th spot with a 12.700.
Claiming the third spot on rings was Illinois senior Mike Wilner, who turned in a 15.600 in his final Big Ten Championships.
Matt Foster led the pommel horse finalists until the last competitor, when his 15.075 was edged out by Ellis Mannon's (Minnesota) 15.525. Foster finished as the runner up on the event in his sophomore campaign.
Hartville turned in an Event Finals best score of 15.275 on vault to take the second Big Ten title of his career on the event.
"It means a lot," Hartville said of the title. "The Big Ten is such a stacked conference. Just to come out of this being conference champion is amazing to me. Not many people get this chance with such a stacked field.
In his final season with the Fighting Illini, Jordan Valdez scored a 15.375 on parallel bars to claim a share of the first Big Ten title of his career. The redshirt-senior also scored a 13.900 on high bar to finish ninth.
"It was really exciting," Valdez said of his title. "I knew I had to put on pretty much one of the best routines I've done for the whole season and I just kind of let the routine do itself. Being a fifth year, it means a lot to me."
Four Illinois gymnasts were named to the All-Big Ten first team including Baker, Hartville, Maestas and Valdez. Second team honorees were Foster, Peters and Wilner. Maestas was also named as a Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Event Finals Results:
FX: C.J. Maestas (1st, 15.400)
PH: Bobby Baker (9th, 14.300), Matt Foster (2nd, 15.075)
SR: Joey Peters (2nd, 15.650), Mike Wilner (3rd, 15.600)
VT: Bobby Baker (T-3rd, 15.100), Fred Hartville (1st, 15.275)
PB: C.J. Maestas (9th, 13.400), Jordan Valdez (T-1st, 15.375)
HB: Joey Peters (10th, 12.700), Jordan Valdez (9th, 13.900)
