Final Results 

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The No. 4 ranked Fighting Illini men's gymnastics team defeated No. 9 Arizona State, 407.700-387.700, Saturday night at Huff Hall. The Orange and Blue won five of the seven events on the evening, highlighted by Bobby Baker's nation-best vault score of 14.900. 

"At the end of the day, we know where we need to be and we know the milestones we need to be hitting along the way throughout our season to be in contention for winning a Big Ten Championship and winning a National Championship," head coach Justin Spring said. "It should be a really good year for us and I'm just expecting a little more in terms of big routines and more hit routines, even in the first or second meet out of the gate."

The Illini got things started on floor exercise, and Senior Bobby Baker posted the top score in the event on the night, a 13.700. Junior Alex Diab wasn't far behind, finishing with a 13.650 to place second in the event. 

Baker wasn't done after winning floor exercise, as the Lemont, Illinois, native posted the top scores on both still rings (14.450) and vault (14.900). The 14.900 vault score currently stands as the top total in the nation on the apparatus. 

Fresh off a pommel horse title a week ago, former National Champion Brandon Ngai posted a 13.750, good for second-place in the event. Senior Harry McClellan won the event, finishing with a score of 13.800 for his first career event title. 

The last rotation of the night saw the Illini on high bar, and the Orange and Blue saw strong scores from both junior Ross Thompson (13.900) and Baker (14.000). Senior Tyson Bull won the event; however, posting a 14.250 to put the finishing touch on an Illini victory. 

Event Titles

Floor - Bobby Baker 

Pommel Horse - Harry McLellan

Still Rings - Bobby Baker

Vault - Bobby Baker 

High Bar - Tyson Bull 

Next Up

The Illini will travel to State College, Pennsylvania, to take on Penn State on January 27. Meet competition is set to begin at 3 p.m. CT. 

"We have to start better," Spring added. "We closed really well tonight and had a big jump from our projected scores, but that only brought us out of the hole we created from our first four events. We have to be better than that. I think we generally do better when we have somebody pushing on us and I think Penn State is going to do that."

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