CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - After much anticipation, the Illinois men's gymnastics team is set to host the 2019 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships at the State Farm Center. The Fighting Illini will compete for their 11th national title in program history and first since 2012.
Friday competition consists of two qualifying sessions, the first at 1 p.m. CT and the second at 7 p.m. CT. Illinois, the No. 4 seed, will compete in the evening session against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 5 Penn State, No. 8 Iowa, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 12 Army.
The afternoon session features No. 2 Stanford, No. 3 Michigan, No 6 Minnesota, No. 7 Nebraska, No. 10 Navy and No. 11 California. The top three teams from each session advance to Saturday's final, which will determine team, all-around and event champions.
- All-Session Adult - $30
- All-Session Student - $25
- Single Session Adult - $15
- Single Session Student - $10
- Single Session Group (10+) - $8
Watch the Championships
The 2019 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championship finals will air live on the Big Ten Network, while both qualifying sessions will be available for streaming on NCAA.org.
Illini By the Numbers
- National Team Championships - 10
- Total Individual Champions - 58
- All-Around Champions - 7
- All-Americans - 157
Illini in the Rankings
Alex Diab holds the second-best average in the country on still rings with a 14.856, while junior Michael Paradise carries the second-highest average on pommel horse. Senior Johnny Jacobson checks in as the 10th-best all-arounder in the country with an average total of 79.825.
Ring King
Nissen Emery Award finalist Alex Diab holds the Illini program record with 30 career still rings titles, seven more than both Dave Romero and Kevin McMurchie. Diab also holds the program's top score on the event (15.200).
At the Big Ten Championships in early April, Diab became only the third Big Ten gymnast to win four-straight titles on a single event, as the Illini senior secured his fourth career Big Ten Still Rings title.
Diab will look to win his second-straight national championship on rings this weekend after taking the top spot on the event a year ago in Chicago.
Big Ten Freshman of the Year
Illinois gymnast Michael Fletcher is this year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Fletcher is the seventh Illini in program history to claim the award and the first since Bobby Baker in 2015.
Fletcher kicked off his freshman campaign with an impressive performance in Illinois' season opener against UIC, as the Nashua, N.H., native claimed event titles on both high bar (13.500) and all-around (80.050) on his way to Big Ten Freshman of the Week honors.
The freshman has been a constant contributor on all six events for the Orange and Blue, placing third on all-around at the Big Ten Championships and holding the following season highs: floor exercise (13.700), pommel horse (13.500), still rings (13.700), vault (14.650), parallel bars (14.200), high bar (14.150) and all-around (82. 700).
High Bar Hamish
After enrolling at Illinois in January, freshman Hamish Carter has wasted no time making an impact for the Orange and Blue. The U.K. native turned in a beautiful high bar set to earn a 14.175 and claim the Big Ten title on the event. Carter is the first Illini freshman to win a high bar conference title since David Zeddies in 1986.
Carter is also the second-straight high bar champion for the Illini, as Chandler Eggleston won the event a year ago.
Second-Place Finish at B1G's
The Illinois men's gymnastics team placed second at the Big Ten Championship, earning a final team score of 410.100 and falling just short of Penn State's 410.350. The second-place finish at the conference championships was the fourth in five years for the Fighting Illini, who claimed the title a year ago in Ann Arbor.
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