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Illinois Wins Third Straight Big Ten Title
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Junior Tyler Mizoguchi placed third in the all-around with a score of 85.700.
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April 1, 2011
Complete Results | 
Photo Gallery
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini men's gymnastics team claimed its third straight Big Ten title in front of its home crowd Friday night at Huff Hall. Illinois is the first school to win three consecutive titles since Ohio State, which accomplished the feat from 2005-07. The Big Ten Championship is the 26th in Illinois history, the most among any Big Ten school.
Michigan took second place (352.750), followed by Ohio State (350.000), Penn State (349.000), Minnesota (344.400) and Iowa (339.300). Junior Tyler Mizoguchi represented the Illini in the all-around, finishing in third place with a score of 85.700. Additionally, nine different Illini advanced to Saturday night's event finals by finishing in the top-10 plus ties, with at least one Illini qualifying on each event.
"There was an unbelievable fight tonight from the whole team," head coach Justin Spring said. "The team was in the zone all day and then with a pressure situation at the end in a risky event, the high bar, came up with releases. We started the first two routines with misses and I have to give props to them. They got up and finished in an amazing way. That was a crucial part because we went in to today saying we did not need to be perfect, we just needed to get our average. We jumped out to a good start and finished without our best high bar routine, but it was enough and that's what I expected."
The Illini began the night on floor, where redshirt senior Chad Wiest (15.500) and Mizoguchi (15.250) finished in first and second place, respectively. Next on pommel horse, the Illini earned their second-highest team score of the season with a 59.250, led by senior Daniel Ribeiro who placed first with a score of 15.850. Sophomore Yoshi Mori took third with a score of 14.750, while junior C.J. Padera tied for fifth place with a 14.400, and Mizoguchi finished in ninth (14.250).
In the third rotation on rings, Illinois matched its season-best score of 59.250 and were paced by junior Anthony Sacramento, who finished in fourth place with a score of 15.250. Redshirt junior Kyle Moe also placed in the top-10, as he tied for ninth with a career-high score of 14.800. On vault, Mizoguchi led the way with the second-best mark in school history under the FIG open- ended code, as he recorded a career-high score of 16.300 to secure a second-place finish on the event.
Illinois maintained its lead over the final two rotations, led by Padera, who placed second on parallel bars (14.900), while freshman Jordan Valdez matched his career-high with a 14.650 to take fourth place. In the final event of the night on high bar, the Illini remained strong despite some setbacks. Redshirt sophomore Austin Phillips tied for second place with a score of 15.050 and Valdez just missed his career best with a 14.800 to place fifth.
The individual event finals will take place Saturday, April 2 at 7 p.m. CT and will be televised live on the Big Ten Network.
Big Ten Team Championships - Results
April 1, 2011
Team Standings
1) ILLINOIS 355.550
2) Michigan 352.750
3) Ohio State 350.000
4) Penn State 349.000
5) Minnesota 344.400
6) Iowa 339.300
All-Around Results
1) Sam Mikulak (MICH) 89.050
2) Kris Done (OSU) 86.600
3) Tyler Mizoguchi (ILL) 85.700
4) Rohan Sebastian (MICH) 85.000
5) Thomas Kelley (MICH) 84.850
6) DJ Repp (MINN) 84.450
7) Felix Aronovich (PSU) 84.400
Individual Event Qualifiers
Chad Wiest -FX
Daniel Ribeiro - PH
C.J. Padera - PH, PB
Anthony Sacramento - SR
Tyler Mizoguchi - FX, PH, VT
Yoshi Mori - PH
Jordan Valdez - PB, HB
Austin Phillips - HB
Kyle Moe - SR
