March 7, 2010

Complete Results

IOWA CITY, Iowa - The fourth-ranked Illini men's gymnastics team posted a new season-high team score and improved to 10-0 overall and 8-0 in the Big Ten after defeating No. 10 Iowa (5-9, 1-5 Big Ten), 357.500-346.600 Sunday afternoon at Carver Hawkeye Arena. Illinois won five of six team and individual events and set a new season-high score on vault (63.550) and high bar (58.750).

"Our performance on vault was exceptional today, so that was exciting to see," associate head coach Justin Spring said. "Our scores keep building and as we get closer to Michigan next weekend and the Big Tens, we want to keep pushing and keep raising those scores. We had some misses today on a couple events, but the second, third and fourth guys really stepped up and carried their weight. I'm excited for the guys. It was a great win."

Junior Paul Ruggeri led the way with event titles on parallel bars (15.300) and high bar (16.100), on which he tied the career-high and school-best score he set earlier in the season. Additionally, his score on parallel bars ranks second in school history under the FIG Open Ended "Code of Points" introduced in 2008. Senior Luke Stannard won his second straight pommel horse title with a career-high score of 15.700, which ties for fifth in school history, while sophomore Tyler Mizoguchi won on rings (15.000) and the all-around (88.850) and tallied new career highs in both. Junior Daniel Ribeiro rounded out the group with his second title of the season on vault (16.100), which ties for third in school history.

The Illini secured top-three finishes in nearly every event, as senior Tyler Williamson placed second on floor (14.950) and Ribeiro finished third with a season-high score of 14.900. He also finished in second place on pommel horse (14.600) and sophomore C.J. Padera followed in third place(14.300). In his season debut on vault, senior Andres Saavedra tied for second with Mizoguchi with a career-high score of 15.950 and also recorded a new season high on parallel bars (13.950). Padera and Mizoguchi tied for second place on parallel bars (14.950), with Padera tying his career high and Mizoguchi tying his season high on the event.

Additionally, career highs also were set by Mizoguchi on high bar (14.100), sophomore Devin Regan on rings (14.200) and high bar (13.500) and freshman Yoshi Mori on parallel bars (14.500).

The Illini return to Huff Hall next weekend for the first of two home meets to end the regular season beginning with No. 3 Michigan on Saturday, March 13 at 2 p.m. The meet will be held in conjunction with the Illini women's gymnastics team's meet against No. 18 Missouri. "Gym Jam," sponsored by the News-Gazette, WDWS and WHMS, will feature free food for the first 1,000 fans beginning at 1 p.m. at Huff Hall and fans also can pick up a free admission ticket at the Football Family Fun Fest from 10 a.m.-1 p.m. on March 13.