CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois men's and women's gymnastics programs will be on display at Huff Hall on Sunday, December 4, at 2 p.m. for the annual Orange and Blue Exhibition. Gymnasts from both programs will be split into two teams to compete for the exhibition title. Illini student-athletes from various other sports will judge the competition and admission is free.
The meet consists of four rotations with six head-to-head matchups in each rotation. Matchups will consist of the men vs. the men and the women vs. the women and vary on apparatus. The team with the most head-to-head points/victories at the end of the fourth rotation will be declared the winner.
The women's team and head coach Kim Landrus are coming off a successful spring campaign in 2016, highlighted by then-freshman, Lizzy LeDuc's performance at the Salt Lake City Regional. LeDuc produced a career-high 9.950 score on floor to become Illinois' first freshman to qualify for the NCAA Individual Championships since 2008. The Fighting Illini completed the 2016 season with school records on beam and All-Big Ten honors for graduating senior Sunny Kato and then-sophomore Bridget Hodan.
"The Orange and Blue Exhibition always creates a great deal of enthusiasm amongst the team and coaching staff," Landrus said. "After three months of preparation, it's time to show our fans a preview of 2017! The atmosphere in Huff is always electric with the head-to-head competition unique to this event. I'm confident that the adrenaline will be high as it is the first time our freshmen will wear an Illinois leotard. It'll also allow us to gauge where we are with our first competition only a month away!"
Head coach Justin Spring and the men's team are coming off a fourth-place finish at the NCAA Championships last spring. Three All-Americans return, highlighted by junior Brandon Ngai, who won the pommel horse national title last year. Rounding out the returning All-Americans for the Illini are junior Tyson Bull and sophomore Alex Diab who earned their honors on the high bar. The Illini finished second at the Big Ten Championships, and Diab took home the individual title on still rings. Returning All-Big Ten honorees include Ngai, senior Matt Foster, and sophomore Johnny Jacobson.
"The big stimulus change is being in a venue with fans," Spring said. "That's a big mind-check for our freshmen who are not used to competing on a stage like this. I'm really looking to see who is going to step up, who we may be able to trust this year. If they don't hit a routine, that does not mean that they can't hit it eventually, but there are some guys who are ready. If they don't, it may be an indicator that we need to focus on some mental training and do some overtraining in routines to make sure they are going to hit them when we need them to. This is a mental game from the coaches, really seeing who steps up and how guys compete. Do guys like to have fun, do they have a really narrow focus? We like to figure out the ticks and quirks of our guys before we get on a floor with real judges against another team."
The men's gymnastics team will open its regular season in Chicago at the Windy City Invitational on Jan. 14 at 7:30 p.m. The Fighting Illini women's gymnastics team opens the regular season at Missouri on Jan. 7 at 7 p.m. in Columbia, Mo. The women's team will return to Champaign for its home opener on Jan. 14 at 4 p.m. taking on Rutgers, Eastern Michigan and UIC in a quad meet.
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