CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illini men's gymnastics team swept all seven event titles to lead the Orange and Blue to a season-high 409.700 dual meet victory over Springfield College (374.650) on Sunday afternoon at Huff Hall.

"We had to pull some start value out to increase our hit ratio in the meet, and we improved our hit ratio and our final score" said head coach Justin Spring. "We are going to grind for the next three weeks to maintain that hit ratio or better, and hopefully get that start value back in so we can compete with teams such as Oklahoma and Stanford."

Illinois improved to 3-1 overall and a perfect 3-0 at Huff Hall.

Seven different Illini picked up event titles today, with the highlights being Junior Jordan Kovach picking up the title for high bar with a career-high 13.550, and Sophomore Ian Skirkey winning the pommel horse title with a career-high 14.000.

Freshman Evan Manivong had a huge day for the Illini, setting new career highs in vault (14.350), high bar (13.450), and tying his career best mark on the floor (13.750). Fellow Freshman Josh Cook also had a big day, earning career highs on the rings (13.650), high bar (13.450), and tying his career best on the floor (13.400)

Four Illini posted new career high scores on the high bar, with all of them being in a row. Freshman Zach Ziolkowski made his Illinois debut and posted a score of 12.450, and Freshman Evan Manivong (13.450), Junior Jordan Kovach (13.550), and Freshman Josh Cook (13.450) all followed in posting new career highs on the high bar.   

Overall, eight different Illini set new career highs in 12 events, and five Illini set new season highs in eight events. 

The Fighting Illini notched a season best team score of 67.750 on parallel bars and 67.100 on high bar.

How It Happened

First Rotation – Floor Exercise (69.050)

• The Orange and Blue swept the top three spots, with McCool taking the title with a career high mark of 14.550. Quiana (14.000) and Manivong (13.750) followed in second and third place, respectively. Cook placed fifth with a score of 13.400, and Diab followed in sixth with a score of 13.350.

Second Rotation – Pommel Horse (66.000)

• The Illini took the top five spots on the pommel horse, with Skirkey earning his first event title of the season with a score of 14.000. Paradise followed in second with a score of 13.700, and Mistretta (13.250), Manivong (12.600), and Muehlhauser (12.450) followed in third, fourth, and fifth place, respectively. 

Third Rotation – Still Rings (68.450)

• The Illini swept the top six spots on rings, with Graham earning his fourth event title of the season with a score of 14.100. Hudson followed in second  with a score of 13.700. Both Cook and Diab scored a 13.650 to place third, and Kovach (13.350) and Carter (13.300) followed in fifth and sixth place, respectively. 

Fourth Rotation – Vault (71.350)

• Carter picked up his fifth event title of the season with a score of 14.400 on the vault. Manivong and Diab tied for second place, both earning a score of 14.350, and Kovach earned a 14.300 to place fourth. 

Fifth Rotation – Parallel Bars (67.750)

• The Illini set a new season high score on the parallel bars, with Quiana earning his third event title of the season with a score of 14.150. Kovach and Carter followed in second place, both scoring a 13.700 on the parallel bars. Graham followed in fourth place with a score of 13.650, followed by Abedi in fifth with a score of 13.450.                              

Sixth Rotation – High Bar (67.100)

• The Illini took the top five sports on the high bar and set a new season high. Kovach earned his first event title of the season with a score of 13.550. Manivong and Cook followed in second place with a score of 13.450, with Carter (13.350) placing fourth and Quiana (13.300) placing fifth.

Carter and Cook were the top two all-around performers on the day, with scores of 79.250 and 78.300, respectively. 

Event Titles

Floor Exercise – Connor McCool (14.550)

Pommel Horse – Ian Skirkey (14.000)

Still Rings – Danny Graham (14.100)

Vault – Hamish Carter (14.400)

Parallel Bars – Sebastian Quiana (14.150)

High Bar – Jordan Kovach (13.550)

All-Around – Hamish Carter (79.250) 

Up Next

The Illini will not compete as a team for three weeks until they visit Iowa on Mar. 1 at 1 p.m. CT. Select Illini who qualified will be competing at the Winter Cup in Las Vegas, Nev. on Feb. 21-23. 

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