CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – This weekend the Fighting Illini will host the 2016 regular-season finale from Huff Hall. Illinois will welcome top-ranked Oklahoma to town for the first time since 2012 for Saturday's 1:30 p.m. meet that will air live on the Big Ten Network. Illinois will honor its trio of fourth-year gymnasts following the meet with a Senior Day ceremony for Logan Bradley, Fred Hartville and Max Mayr.
Oklahoma has claimed 42 of the 50 all-time meetings against the Fighting Illini squad and enters the meet not having been defeated since the 2014 NCAA Championships. Illinois owns a 13-3 record entering the final meet of the regular season.
LAST TIME OUT: HOSTING MICHIGAN
In the first meeting between the Fighting Illini and Wolverines in Champaign, Illinois, since the 2012 season, the Orange and Blue took the Big Ten match up by a score of 434.000-430.500. The Illini are now 120-89-1 all-time against Michigan.
Freshman Alex Diab led the Orange and Blue in the competition, winning both the floor exercise (15.450) and still rings (15.500) event titles with career high scores in each. Matt Foster won his first crown of the season in the meet, posting a 15.250 on the pommel horse to take the top spot following an uncharacteristic Brandon Ngai fall that left the sophomore in third place. Tyson Bull won his third career high bar title with a career-high score of 15.300.
BOBBY BAKER: B1G GYMNAST OF THE WEEK (AGAIN)
Baker posted a trio of scores above 15.0 in Illinois' meet at Air Force, two of which earned him event titles in addition to his all-around crown. A mark of 15.300 earned the vault title and a score of 15.050 was enough for the parallel bars crown. Baker also posted a 15.250 on pommel horse to help the Illinois unit to the second best mark in NCAA history with a 76.150. The accolade marked Baker's fourth of the kind in his young career and second of the season.
SOARING TO NEW HEIGHTS AT AIR FORCE
In the first five-up, five-count meet of the 2016 season, the Fighting Illini soared to new heights, registering a school record score of 442.300. The Orange and Blue also tallied the best pommel horse score in the NCAA this season with a reading of 76.150. That mark ranks as the second-best score ever registered on the event for a team.
Bobby Baker won a trio of titles at the outing. His first crown came on vault, where he posted a career-best 15.300. He won the parallel bars with a 15.050 showing and took home the all-around title with a reading of 89.450. Brandon Ngai continued his pommel horse excellence, winning his sixth-career title in as many meets with a mark of 15.550.
FIVE UP, FIVE COUNT
Until the Winter Cup Challenge, men's gymnastics collegiate scoring uses a six-up, five-count format, where six gymnasts compete on each event but only the five best scores count towards the team total. Following the event in Las Vegas, collegiate meets switch to a five-up, five-count scoring format. The scoring at the upcoming meet will be the third of the season in which Illinois can no longer drop the lowest score on events, making it critical to execute well on every routine.
AT MINNESOTA
In the final six-up, five-count meet, the Fighting Illini headed for Minnesota for a six-team meet hosted at the Sports Pavilion on Saturday, Feb. 13. Stanford took the top spot with a score of 432.800 followed closely by the hosts at 432.650. The Illini finished third with a reading of 429.750. Rounding out the field were the Canadian National Team (427.000), Iowa (419.700) and the Minnesota Club Team (161.950).
Brandon Ngai claimed his fifth-consecutive pommel horse title with a score of 15.050. Tyson Bull won his second career title in as many weeks winning the high bar competition at the meet. Bull's score of 15.150 was his first above 15.0 and was Illinois' second best score in the event this season at the time.
WINTER CUP
Freshman Alex Diab represented the current Illini squad at the Winter Cup Challenge, finishing 26th overall in the all-around competition. Diab turned in an eighth place reading on the still rings with a combined score of 29.150. Former Illini C.J. Maestas and Paul Ruggeri retained their spots on the U.S. National Team through the 2016 P&G Championships.
EGGLESTON AND JACOBSON CLAIM B1G HONORS
Illini gymnasts Chandler Eggleston and Johnny Jacobson were announced as the Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman of the Week, respectively, the week of Feb. 8. This marked the first Big Ten Gymnast of the Week accolade for Eggleston, who won five Freshman of the Week honors during the 2014 campaign. The redshirt sophomore claimed the floor title with a reading of 15.400 and the vault title with a 15.150 against Temple & UIC. Jacobson earned his first-ever weekly accolade following an 86.500 all-around showing.
HOSTING TEMPLE & UIC
Illinois remained unbeaten at Huff Hall during the 2016 campaign, taking down Temple and UIC with a season-best team score of 436.550; the fifth-best score in program history. UI swept all seven titles for the second time at home this season. The meet was the third between the Fighting Illini and the UIC Flames of 2016, but the first between the Illinois and Temple since the Owls became a club program prior to the 2015 season.
FIRST CAREER TITLES
At Illinois' Feb. 6 meet against Temple and UIC, a trio of Illini earned the first event titles of their collegiate careers. First to claim a crown was sophomore Dennis Minton who produced a reading of 15.350 on the still rings. Following suit, fellow sophomore Tyson Bull won the high bar competition with a score of 14.800. Johnny Jacobson finished in the top three in all but one event and won the all-around title with a mark of 86.500.
BRANDON NGAI EXUDES EXCELLENCE
As Coach Spring said following the Windy City Invitational, Brandon Ngai is exuding excellence on the pommel horse. The 17-year-old sophomore produced Illinois' best score on the event in five seasons with a 15.550 at the Windy City Invitational. Against Temple & UIC, Ngai upped his game, earning a 15.600 to become just the third Illini to ever earn a mark of that caliber behind Daniel Ribeiro and Luke Stannard.
Ngai's 15.600 is the third-best score achieved in the nation this season. The sophomore also owns a 15. 300 average on the season in pommel horse competition. Only one other gymnast is averaging a score above 15.0 this season.
FRED HARTVILLE RETURNS
In his first competitive routine since winning the 2015 Big Ten Vault Championship, Fred Hartville returned after suffering a season-ending injury during warm-ups at the NCAA Championships and posted a 14.800 on vault for third place honors at Penn State. Hartville has accumulated four of Illinois' top five vault scores in the modern scoring era.
The following weekend against Temple and UIC, Hartville made his 2016 Huff Hall debut, competing in the floor exercise and vault competitions. The senior finished fifth on floor with a score of 14.450 and was the vault runner up, posting a mark of 14.850.
TOUGH LOSS AT PENN STATE
Despite claiming four event titles on the day, the Illinois men's gymnastics team suffered its first loss of the 2016 season at the hands of Penn State. The Fighting Illini led following the third and fourth rotations after strong showings on both still rings and vault, but couldn't hold on down the stretch, falling to the Nittany Lions 429.200-430.200. The Illini posted six scores at 15.0 or better for the second time this season. Chandler Eggleston won the floor exercise and vault titles while Brandon Ngai added his third pommel horse title in as many weeks and Alex Diab claimed the first still rings title of his career. UI moved to 7-1 on the season with the loss.
PETERS OUT FOR 2016
Fighting Illini senior gymnast Joey Peters will redshirt the 2016 season after suffering knee and shoulder injuries prior to the season. The Orefield, Pennsylvania, native is expected to return for the 2017 campaign. In his three competitive seasons with the Illinois Men's Gymnastics program, Peters has garnered All-America honors in the all-around while also winning 13 event titles during his career in the Orange and Blue, collecting at least one every season.
WINNING IN IOWA CITY
Illinois Men's Gymnastics took down the Hawkeyes to improve to 7-0 on the young 2016 season, marking the 150th victory over Iowa in program history. The Illini claimed four titles as Chandler Eggleston (floor, vault), Bobby Baker (parallel bars) and Brandon Ngai (pommel horse) each added to their tallies. UI inched out the win by a final score of 431.150-430.850 for the second-consecutive meet decided by three-tenths or less.
FINISHING STRONG AT IOWA
Trailing by over half a point entering the final rotation, the Fighting Illini parallel bars unit secured the victory, hitting a perfect 6-of-6 routines in Iowa City. On top of that, all six gymnasts posted a season-best score while three individuals hit personal bests (Chandler Eggleston, Matt Foster, Johnny Jacobson). Bobby Baker anchored the efforts, scoring a 15.200 to earn a share of the event title. Illinois' team mark of 73.000 is the best mark for the Orange and Blue on the season.
WINDY CITY INVITATIONAL
At the Windy City Invitational on Jan. 17, Illinois became back-to-back champions at the event for just the second time in program history. The victory marked the sixth time the Fighting Illini won the event since it was first held during the 1976-77 season. Illinois has won four Windy City Invitational titles under Justin Spring. 2003 was the last time that the Fighting Illini placed outside of the top two teams in the field. UI has claimed the title in: 1988, 2005, 2010, 2011, 2015 and 2016.
B1G AWARDS: BAKER & DIAB
Illini sophomore Bobby Baker and freshman Alex Diab swept the Big Ten's first awards of 2016, earning Gymnast of the Week and Freshman of the Week, respectively. Baker won three of the final four events against UIC to pick up his third Gymnast of the Week laurel. Diab won the floor and all-around crowns in his collegiate debut to earn his first conference honor.
AN OPENING DAY FOR THE BOOKS
Illinois' team score of 432.500 against UIC marked the best season-debut score for the Orange and Blue in program history. UI bested the previous top opening-day mark by well over three points.
POMMEL HORSE UPGRADES IN SEASON OPENER
The Orange and Blue turned in the best team pommel horse score in program history against UIC in its 2016 opener, racking up a 74.750, the 11th-best team score ever recorded in the NCAA on the event at the time. UI had a trio of gymnasts score 15.150 or better, the best mark any gymnast had scored on the event in all of 2015. Logan Bradley led the efforts with a career high of 15.350 with Brandon Ngai right behind him at 15.300. Bobby Baker added a 15.150.
BOBBY BAKER MAKES HISTORY
With titles on the rings and high bar in Illinois' season-opening meet against UIC, Bobby Baker became just the 10th gymnast in program history to win a title in all six events (FX, PH, SR, VT, PB, HB) along with at least one all-around crown. Baker became the quickest Illini to accomplish the feat, winning all seven by the end of the opening meet of his second year of competition. Baker accumulated all seven titles in just 18 competitions.
BIG TEN PRESEASON POLL
In the Big Ten Pre-Season poll, Illinois was picked to finish third in the league for the third-consecutive season. The Fighting Illini claimed a second-place finish at last year's Big Ten Championships, falling just six-tenths of a point short to the host, Penn State. Baker and Eggleston were named as Illinois' "Gymnasts to Watch".
RETURNING ALL-AMERICANS
This season, Coach Spring returns five athletes that account for eight All-America accolades between them. Logan Bradley, Chandler Eggleston and Bobby Baker have each claimed a pair of honors while Fred Hartville and Joey Peters have each been honored as well.
Hartville won the NCAA Vault title his freshman campaign while Eggleston finished second on both the vault and floor his rookie season.
CAREER TITLE COUNT RECORDS
Hartville claimed four vault titles last season to up his career count to 13 titles on the apparatus. He currently resides in a tie for the fifth spot for all-time vault titles with Gilberto Albuquerque. Hartville also holds a spot on the single-season vault titles list with eight, back in 2013 to share fifth place with Charlie Lakes and Hal Shaw.
In 2014, Eggleston notched six titles to move into a six-way tie for the most floor titles won in a single season.
CURRENT ILLINI IN THE RECORD BOOK
Entering the season, two Illini currently own places in the top scores section of the record book. On vault, Hartville has a hold on four of the top-five places in the modern era scoring. His top score, and the school record, of 15.550 came in 2013, his freshman season at the Big Ten Team Finals. Hartville and Paul Ruggeri share the second-best score on the event at 15.550.
Bobby Baker is the second Illini in the books, owning the fourth-best all-around mark registered by an Illinois gymnast. Baker sported an 89.550 last season when the Orange and Blue hosted Penn State.
COACHING STAFF
During the off season, Daniel Ribeiro was promoted to the position of associate head coach after serving four seasons as an assistant under Spring. The Illini also welcomed back Don Osborn who rejoins the Orange and Blue after serving as the head coach from 1994-96 and an assistant coach under Yoshi Hayasaki for the eight seasons prior to that. This will mark his first season working with Spring and Ribeiro though.
LOOKING AHEAD
With the 2016 regular season in the books, the Fighting Illini will set their sights on the Big Ten Championships hosted by the preseason conference favorite, Ohio State. The championships are slated for April 1-2 at the St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio.
