No. 4 Men's Gymnastics Heads to NCAA Championships

No. 4 Illinois at NCAA Championships
Date | Time	Friday, April 19 // 12 p.m. CT | Saturday, April 20 // 6 p.m. CT
Location	Columbus, Ohio | Covelli Center
Live Stream	ncaa.com
Live Stats	StatBroadcast
Printable Notes	Illinois | Cal | Nebraska
Social Media	@IlliniMGym  |  @IlliniMGym | Facebook

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – No. 4 Fighting Illini men's gymnastics will close out its season at the 2024 NCAA Championships at the Covelli Center in Columbus, Ohio. 

The Illini will start in the qualifying round against No. 1 Stanford, No. 5 Nebraska, No. 8 Cal, No. 9 Navy and No. 12 Greenville at 12 p.m. CT on Friday, April 19. Illinois has to finish in the top three to move onto the Super Six finals. 

History 

Last season, the Illini placed third in the Super Six for the first time since 2018 and scored a season-high score of 415.590.

In 2021 and 2022, Illinois finished in sixth place 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. 

Scouting Report 

Top-ranked Stanford is coming off a first-place finish at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships with a score of 422.700. 

The Cardinal had two event champions: Asher Hong, No. 1 in the nation on still rings, won the apparatus with a score of 15.000, and Khoi Young won vault, parallel bars and all-around. 

Nebraska is coming off a 407.350 performance at the Big Ten Championships, where the Cornhuskers came in third place. Asher Cohen took third place on still rings, with Taylor Christopulos placing fourth on vault, third on high bar and second in all-around.

Cal came in third place at the MPSF Championships, with Aidan Li placing third on pommel horse, Jasper Smith-Gordon placing second on vault and Darren Wong tying for fourth on high bar.    

Navy took the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships crown, scoring a 401.450. The Midshipmen had three conference champions: Riley Rose won still rings and high bar, Matthew Petros won parallel bars and Isaiah Drake won all-around. 

Greenville came in second at the ECAC Championships with a team score of 393.000. The Panthers had two champions: Zach Connelly on floor and Logan Watterson on vault.