CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Illinois men's gymnastics team defeated No. 10 Iowa, 409.950-397.100, on Saturday night. The Fighting Illini improve to 9-0, while Iowa falls to 3-7.
"We did okay," said head coach Justin Spring. "It got us a win tonight. Iowa had kind of a meltdown on their first two events which gave us a huge buffer. We kind of held that through the meet. Had they not had that, they could have gotten the better of us today. We needed to compete better, be a little bit more consistent."
Illinois started off on floor, turning in a 70.100 team score. Alex Diab earned his second floor title on the season with a 14.600. Sebastian Quiana turned in a 14.000, and Bobby Baker recorded a 13.900.
Brandon Ngai won his second pommel horse title of the season for the Illini, with a 14.700. Matt Foster placed second with a 13.300, and Tyson Bull's 12.600 contributed to a 65.300 team score.
Illinois would head to still rings for the third rotation, and Diab would earn his second title of the day and fifth rings title on the season after scoring a 14.900, tying his season high. Baker recorded a season-best score of 14.450, and Danny Graham made his collegiate debut on rings, recording a 13.350. The Illini would score a 69.550 on rings.
"We had a couple guys step up with some new routines," Spring said. "Danny Graham did a great job on rings. Rings has been a tough event for us this year. He did an amazing routine back in our intersquad in November. We have been waiting for that to kind of emerge and it has over these last three training weeks."
On vault, Illinois recorded a season-high mark of 71.500. Jacob Light's 14.450 set a new career-best mark, and was matched by Baker. Blake Martin added a 14.350 in his season debut on vault, and Diab tied his season-best score with a 14.250. Iowa's Andrew Botto claimed the vault title with a 14.950.
"Jacob Light, he's the other one who got in the lineup," Spring said. He did his old, lesser-valued vault once before but he did the upgraded vault. Didn't hit it in warmups but he'd been hitting it all week and so we said 'we gotta go with this.' That was maybe one of the more explosive, emotional moments of the night, because that was certainly a vault we need. Chandler's knee is not getting better, and he's another guy that should be back in vault. In lieu of not having him it was amazing to see Jacob put that to his feet and it was really clean. So that's exactly what we need."
In his first appearance on parallel bars this season, Baker claimed the title with a 14.550. Foster and Bull each recorded a 13.000, contributing to the 66.300 team score for Illinois on parallel bars.
The final rotation of the night for the Illini was high bar, and Bull earned his fourth title in the event of the season with a 14.250. Johnny Jacobson added a season-best score of 13.750, and Diab's 13.600 also helped Illinois to a 67.200 team mark on high bar.
"We have to be better about what we take," said Spring. "That's the learning lesson in almost every meet. Little things, very specific changes and tweaks that different athletes have to make. It's hard to say any one thing. We have to be better. The guys know it, they're frustrated. They're capable of so much more."
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Illinois will compete in the Puerto Rico Invitational on March 4, followed by road trips to Michigan on March 11 and two-time reigning national champion Oklahoma on March 18. The next home meet for the Illini is March 24 against Ohio State.
