CAROLINA, Puerto Rico – The Illinois men's gymnastics team placed first at the Puerto Rico Gymnastics Challenge on Saturday, scoring a 409.450. Michigan placed second with a 402.450, and Arizona State recorded a 381.050.
"We had kind of a rough start on rings, but said 'all right, let's move on' to our next event, which was vault," said head coach Justin Spring. "We actually had a pretty good vault, and then went to parallel bars and had two 11s there. It was kind of a weird night. It was a combination of a couple guys having an incredible day, and a couple of guys having maybe some of the worst routines in their career."
Illinois started on rings, where Alex Diab led the team with a 14.450. Bobby Baker scored a 13.400, contributing to a team score of 65.850.
The Illini moved to vault in the second rotation, and scored a 70.950. Jacob Light (14.800), Blake Martin (14.500), Chandler Eggleston (14.350) and Alex Diab (14.300) all turned in season-best scores on vault.
On parallel bars, Johnny Jacobson recorded a 14.300, winning his fifth parallel bars title of the year. Chandler Eggleston scored a 14.000, and Matt Foster added a 13.600 to contribute to a 64.050 team score.
Illinois moved on to high bar for the fourth rotation, and scored a 66.600. Tyson Bull led the Illini with a 13.850, Ross Thompson recorded a 13.550 and Diab added a 13.400.
The Orange and Blue earned a 71.750 on floor, the best mark of the season. Diab's 15.000 on floor was a season-best mark, and earned him his title in the event of the year. Sebastian Quiana also turned in a season-best score with a 14.750.
The final rotation for the Illini was pommel horse, recording a season-best 70.250. Foster's 15.250 was the highest score of the season for the Illini on pommel horse, and won him his fourth title of the year in the event. Michael Paradise scored a 14.400, a season-best.
"Overall, we really stepped up," Spring said. "It was a really close meet going into our second-to-last rotation, which was floor, and then our floor team probably had the best showing we've had in five or six years, which was kind of the antithesis of rings. So that was awesome. It gave us a nice lead, a good cushion heading into pommel horse. Michael Paradise had a career high on pommel horse, and Matt Foster finally hit a routine the way he's been hitting them in practice and the way he trains. He just swung freely and it was probably the best routine of his life, which is what I've been waiting for his whole career. He's just an amazing horse guy, and he has a legitimate opportunity to win a Big Ten or national championship. Between him and Brandon (Ngai), they can beat anyone, depending on whose day it is, and it was definitely Matt's day. I'm so happy for him."
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Illinois will have two road trips on back-to-back weekends, heading to Michigan on March 11, and will visit two-time reigning national champion Oklahoma on March 18. The next home meet for the Illini is March 24 against Ohio State.
