STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The No. 4-seeded Fighting Illini will head into its last weekend of competition at the NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships, Friday-Saturday (April 14-15) at Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State.
About The Meet
The NCAA Championship meet is stretched into two days -- the qualifiers on Friday and the Super 6 on Saturday.
Ten teams go into the qualifiers in two sessions with the top three teams from each session advancing.
Last Time Out
For the first time since the 2017 season, three Fighting Illini men's gymnasts won Big Ten titles in the event finals at the 2023 Big Ten Championships. Connor McCool took the title on floor exercise, Ian Skirkey won on pommel horse, and Ashton Anaya captured the still rings championship.
McCool took the floor as the second to last performance of the night and put together a near perfect routine to score a 14.725. Paul Barnes of Penn State, the only gymnast to score higher on the event the night before, followed McCool but only pulled out a 14.3, making McCool the first floor exercise Big Ten event winner for the Illini since C.J. Maestas in 2015.
As the top score from team finals on pommel horse, Skirkey was the anchor performance, needing to better a 14.15 to capture the win. He blew away the competition with a 14.80 and became Illinois' first horse conference event winner since Brandon Ngai in 2017. Skirkey was one of three qualifiers in the event. Sophomore Max Farkhadau earned second-team All-Big Ten honors after finishing third with a 13.825 and Will Hauke scored a 12.475 to close the Illini out.
In the very next routine, Anaya took the still rings, also as the last performer in the event. His 14.475 beat out the 14.175 from Donavon Hewitt of Ohio State. The sophomore became the Big Ten still rings champion for the second straight season.
The Illini had three qualifiers on vault with Evan Manivong scoring the Illini's top mark of the finals with a 14.60, placing fourth. He was followed by Amari Sewel's 14.425, which was good for sixth, and Michael Fletchers' seventh-place 14.40.
Senior David Pochinka was the only Illini representative on parallel bars, placing third with a score of 14.225, also earning him second-team All-Big Ten.
Fletcher was the sole Illini qualifier on high bar, and set a new season-best mark with his 13.950, placing seventh.
History
Illinois has finished in sixth place for two straight years (2022, 2021) after the championships were canceled in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Illini finished fifth in 2019, following back-to-back-to-back third-place finishes in 2016, 2017 and 2018.
The program has captured 10 NCAA Championships in its history, with the last coming in 2012. The Illini also won national championships in 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942, 1950, 1955, 1956, 1958 and 1989.
