CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The no. 3 Fighting Illini men's gymnastics team opened their Big Ten season Saturday afternoon with a 402.550- 396.250 win over Ohio State.
The Illini (2-0, 1-0 B1G) claimed four event titles in the victory, and junior Hamish Carter took the all-around title. Junior Leo Valentin made his Illini debut, scoring a 13.750 on the floor and a 13.300 on vault. Junior Clay Mason Stephens made his return to the Illini after missing the 2019-20 season due to injury and scored a 13.050 on pommel horse, 13.300 on parallel bars, and 12.300 on high bar.
Sophomore Evan Manivong set a new career-best score of 14.750 on the vault while taking the event title for the second week in a row. Junior Ian Skirkey set a new career-best score of 14.050 on vault, and freshman Will Hauke and Logan Myers topped their career-highs with scores of 13.000 and 13.400 on floor and rings, respectively.
"Today was a much better indicator of how our team is going to be this year… this was a huge step in the right direction" head coach Justin Spring said. "If we're going to take down some of the best teams in the Big Ten, though, we're going to need to finish better than we did today. We will work on that this week, but overall I'm very happy with where we are coming off last weekend."
HOW IT HAPPENED
First Rotation – Floor Exercise (67.650)
- Sophomore Connor McCool placed second on the floor with a score of 14.250, a season-high.
Second Rotation – Pommel Horse (66.350)
- Ian Skirkey took home the gold on pommel horse with a score of 14.550, a season-high. Hamish Carter placed third in the event with a 13.750, also a season-high.
Third Rotation – Still Rings (67.950)
- Jordan Kovach and Danny Graham tied for first place on rings with a score of 13.750 each, a season-high for both. Logan Myers placed fifth and set a career-high score of 13.400 on the event.
Fourth Rotation – Vault (71.000)
- Vault was again the Illini's highest scoring routine of the day, where Evan Manivong set a new career-high score of 14.750 while taking the top spot. Ian Skirkey placed seventh and topped his career-best with a score of 14.050 on the event.
Fifth Rotation – Parallel Bars (64.950)
Sixth Rotation – High Bar (64.650)
EVENT TITLES
Pommel Horse- Ian Skirkey (14.550)
Still Rings- Jordan Kovach/ Danny Graham (13.750)
Vault- Evan Manivong (14.750)
Parallel Bars- Hamish Carter (13.400)
All-Around- Hamish Carter (80.500)
UP NEXT
The Illini travel to University Park next Sunday to take on the Penn State Nittany Lions. The meet is scheduled to start at 3 PM CT, and broadcast/ stats information is to be announced.
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