By JOE VOZZELLI JR.

jvozzelli@news-gazette.com

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Sebastian Quiana and Justin Spring laugh about it now whenever the story is brought up. 

Four years ago, when Quiana — then a freshman on the Illinois men's gymnastics team that Spring coaches — arrived on the Illinois campus and started training with the team for the first time, the Oradell, N.J., native found himself in a precarious position from a strength and conditioning standpoint.

"I barely could hold myself up on the parallel bars," Quiana said with a laugh.

"He couldn't do basic gym," Spring continued. "I remember thinking to myself, 'What happened?'

"He was one of the leanest gymnasts we've ever had. He just hadn't developed fully yet and couldn't handle the strength program."

The reason Spring and Quiana can laugh about that situation now is because Quiana "became two times the gymnast we thought he'd be when we recruited him," according to Spring. 

Quiana not only improved strength-wise, growing from a 165-pound freshman to a 198-pound senior, but became one of the Illini's top performers during his four-year career, evidenced by earning NCAA All-American honors on floor exercises during his sophomore and junior seasons. 

Quiana counts Illinois' team win at the Big Ten championships in 2018, however, as the highlight of his time as an Illini. His 14.300 on floor that day was the top result for Illinois, which outscored second-place Michigan 413.900-408.600 in Ann Arbor, Mich.

"You just are able to see all of your hard work that you put in, all the endless hours you put in grinding in the gym, in the strength gym also and the normal gym," Quiana said of what that team title meant to him. "You just put in so many hours to see it pay off in the end, to see everyone's emotions and reactions after you win is something that I will never forget, for sure."

Any quest to relive that feeling with the whole team or the opportunity for Quiana to collect more personal glory — he was chasing a third consecutive All-American nod — was taken away by something out of Illinois' control. The coronavirus pandemic resulted in the cancelation of both the Big Ten and NCAA Championships, along with the Illini's remaining two regular season events, a decision that was reached last month. Quiana has since returned to his hometown in upstate New Jersey with Illinois switching to online instruction for the rest of the spring semester.

An abrupt end to his college gymnastics career notwithstanding, how far Quiana had progressed in his four years at Illinois left him feeling like he got the most out of his time with the Illini. 

"I actually think the thing that surprised me the most was how much better I got at gymnastics after going to college," the 21-year-old Quiana said. "A lot of people say the skills you have and the potential kind of stays the same, but I think when I got to college, I got a lot better at gymnastics. I think that shows throughout my four years there.

"I think maybe the biggest obstacle at times is since you were a kid you learned each skill one way from one coach up until college and then you change coaches and they have a different belief. One of the major obstacles sometimes was committing 100 percent to the idea that your coaches have of learning a skill that way and really just trusting that they know what they are talking about. ... I think just breaking down that barrier in the beginning is the big challenge that a lot of people have."

Quiana learned the sport of gymnastics as a toddler. He and his mom, Sophia Sembos, took a gymnastics class together when he was 2 years old. Quiana went on to also play soccer and baseball in elementary school before devoting his time exclusive to gymnastics from his freshman year at River Dell High School onward.

The 2016 all-around state champion for the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association visited Illinois during his senior year of high school. Quiana, who was recruited to Illinois for his ability on floor and on parallel bars, said there were three aspects that sold him on Spring's program. The coaching staff and team atmosphere were two key aspects, he said, along with the academic side.

Quiana, who began to think about going into the medical profession ever since undergoing elbow surgery when he was a high school sophomore for an osteochondral defect, was impressed by the molecular and cellular biology program Illinois had. After he graduates in May, Quiana will begin studying for the MCAT, with the goal to be admitted into medical school in the fall of 2021. 

Quiana's commitment to his rigorous coursework — in addition to what the Illinois coach saw from his athlete both in the practice gym and during meets — left Spring impressed by the gymnast's overall transformation. 

"I watched him command sections of our gym and demand that same level of effort and hard work from his teammates," Spring said. "It was really cool to see that transformation and growth. He took command of his place as a senior. To do that, and have a really good GPA in arguably the hardest route for a pre-med major, you can't say enough about him."