Results (PDF)

CHICAGO – Illinois Men's Gymnastics claimed the Windy City Invitational title for the second-straight season and improved to a record of 6-0. Despite winning just one event title on the afternoon, Illinois produced a team score of 425.950 to secure back-to-back Windy City Invitational wins for just the second time in Illinois history.

"This is always a huge fight of a meet to just battle through," head coach Justin Spring shared. "Individually, everyone is stepping in and doing their part and I think we'll see lineups shift around quite a bit still. Our freshmen are going to end up being a pretty integral part of our team this year."

Illinois began the afternoon on pommel horse, posting a team mark of 72.600. Brandon Ngai posted a career-high score of 15.550, which is also the top mark in the country currently to take the first event title of his collegiate career. The Illini also claimed second and third on the event thanks to Matt Foster's 14.950 and a 14.800 by Logan Bradley.

Ngai's score was the best mark for an Illinois gymnast on the event since associate head coach Daniel Ribeiro hit the mark his senior season to win the 2011 NCAA Pommel Horse title.

UI headed to rings next where the Orange and Blue posted a team mark of 69.800. Alex Diab led the Illini with a score of 14.950 and took home a second place finish in the standings. Max Mayr contributed a 14.000 in the event.

Next on vault, Bobby Baker turned in a 14.900 to tie for eighth place. As a team, Illinois finished with a score of 71.500. Chandler Eggleston posted a 14.500 on the event. Diab added a 14.250.

The Illinois parallel bars unit was led by Baker with a score of 14.450, which held on for a second place ranking. Mayr and Johnny Jacobson added marks of 14.200 for a share of fifth place. Illinois finished with a team mark of 69.450 on the event.

With just two events remaining, the Fighting Illini trailed Minnesota by nearly a point and a half. UI headed to high bar where they put together a team score of 71.300. Baker registered a 15.000 for a share of third place in the event. Tom Gibbs also broke the top 10, registering a score of 14.300.

Heading into the final rotation UI needed to make up over a point to catch a Minnesota team that would finish on pommel horse. Bradley opened with a 14.300 followed by a 14.050 from Jacobson. Marks of 14.200 from Baker and 13.850 by Diab left final routine in the hands of Eggleston. The redshirt sophomore did not disappoint, turning in a second-place score of 14.900.

The Orange and Blue outlasted Ohio State, who took runner-up honors with a final score of 425.700. Minnesota finished in third place with a score of 424.500 followed by Iowa (419.650), Michigan (413.700) and UIC (378.450).

In the all-around competition, Baker finished second with a total of 85.350. Diab turned in an 83.600 followed by Gibbs at 82.250.

NOTES

• Illinois' team score on the pommel horse finished four points better than any other team's mark on the event
• Brandon Ngai registered Illinois' best pommel horse score in five seasons. Daniel Ribeiro won the 2011 NCAA event title with the same score marking the last time it was produced by an Illini
• Ngai currently owns the highest score (15.550) in the NCAA this season
• Illinois won back-to-back Windy City Invitational titles for the second time in program history and has now won the event six times, with four coming under Spring

LOOKING AHEAD

Illinois Men's Gymnastics will head to Iowa next weekend to take on the Hawkeyes. UI and the Hawkeyes met this weekend at the Windy City Invitational where the Illini finished first and Iowa grabbed fourth place. The Orange and Blue went 3-1 against Iowa over the course of the 2015 campaign.