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Illinois Sets School Record on Floor to Finish Fifth at NCAAs

Junior Wes Haagensen Finishes Second in All-Around; Illini Qualify Four for Individual Finals

Illini junior Wes Haagensen finishes second in the all-around.

April 14, 2007

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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 8 Illinois men's gymnastics team put up it highest score of the year, a 217.300, and a school-record 38.450 on floor to finish fifth at the 2007 NCAA Championships at Rec Hall on the campus of Penn State University tonight. The Illini, who came into the championships an underdog to make team finals, clicked at all the right times to put up its second-consecutive team high of the season to seal its fifth straight top-five finish at nationals in as many years. Junior Wes Haagensen earned his fourth All-American honor of his career, taking second in the all-around with a 55.000 behind Oklahoma's Taqiy Abdullah-Simmons (55.750).

"These guys exceeded my expectations for the season and at NCAAs," head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "Everyone expected this to be a down year for us after losing such a talented senior class. Heading into this year, we didn't have a senior on the team and were not even looked at for making the team finals. Instead, we were the most surprising team this year, finishing fifth and maxing out on pretty much everything to peak at the right time."

No. 3-ranked Penn State University (221.000) took home top honors on the night, dethroning back-to-back champion No. 2-ranked Oklahoma (220.200), who finished second, to win its first NCAA title since 2004, and its NCAA record-leading 12^th crown overall. The Nittany Lions are the only school with more titles than the Illini (nine) in NCAA history.

PSU, for the second time, interrupted Oklahoma's plans of becoming only the fourth team in NCAA history to win three straight titles (Illinois - 1939-42; Penn State - 1959-61; Nebraska - 1978-83), as the Sooners won the crown in back-to-back years from 2002-03 before Penn State stole the championship in 2004.

"It is an amazing feeling to win in your home gym," Hayasaki said. "Penn State did a great job, and did it against a very good Oklahoma team."

Rounding out the team final standings, No. 4-ranked Stanford took third (218.450), followed by No. 5-ranked Michigan (218.400) in fourth, No. 8-ranked Illinois in fifth and No. 6-ranked Minnesota (217.150) in sixth.

"These guys did a great job," Haagensen said about the team effort. "We knew it was going to come down to the freshmen hitting on their routines, and they came through for us. No one expected us to even be here in team finals, and to make it and then have us peak at NCAAs, you just can't ask this team for anymore than that."

Haagensen tops his 2006 performance in the all-around (fourth) with one of his best performances of the year, but again fell just short of the title.

"With my last event being pommel, I came out to win it," Haagensen said. "I have to thank my teammates, who set me up for doing as well as I did. It is so much easier to come out relaxed when the guys in front of you are hitting and sticking their routines. Overall, I made some mistakes on pommel, and you can't expect to win with those kinds of mistakes."

Illinois accomplished the best meet of the year by setting a school record on floor, recording the top-two scores in Illini laurels in consecutive days of the 2007 championships, while also notching a season-high on high bars (36.850). Overall, Illinois captured the team title on floor exercise and finished second on high bar (36.850), while a total of five Illini set seven career highs, tied two more and posted nine season highs during team finals on four different events.

"It was just a great team effort," freshman Brian Liscovitz said. "Coming in as a freshman and experiencing this kind of atmosphere was awesome. I think it says a lot that we were such a young team and were able to accomplish making the finals day. I know that we can only get better and stronger from here heading into next year."

Kicking off the night on rings, the Illini were led by sophomore Nick Stango (9.000) followed by freshman Tyler Williamson (8.950), both falling short of matching their career-highs of a 9.100 that Stango set and Williamson tied in last night's qualifying session. Juniors Jon Drollinger and Haagensen followed shortly, Drollinger performing his best routine since early March, tabbing a 9.400, while Haagensen tossed in a 9.250. Yamauchi rounded out the rotation for the Illini carding a 9.550, finishing tied for 11^th on the event and just one place outside of qualifying for team finals. The effort gave Illinois a team total 37.200, its third-best mark of the season and almost a point higher that its three-score team average of a 36.640

Ranked second nationally on the event, the Illini headed to vault where Illinois had solid starts from sophomore Michael Boyer (8.000), junior Chris Silcox (8.400) and Williamson (8.200). With behind average scores through three competitors, the Illini looked to the end of their lineup to raise the benchmark. Freshman Chad Wiest did just that as he scored a 9.050, matching his career high that he has set on three different occasions this season, while Haagensen tabbed a 9.000. Big Ten vault champion Yamauchi concluded the rotation, carding a 9.050 to bring the Illini total to 35.500, their fourth-best mark of the season.

Up next on parallel bars, the Orange and Blue moved to the event closest to their cheering section, capitalizing on the extra energy from their Fighting Illini faithful. Sophomore Chris Lung notched an 8.400 to get the Illini started, while freshman Andres Saavedra followed with an 8.600. Fellow freshman Wiest, having one of the best meets of his young Illini career, fell .050 short of tying his career high, registering a 8.650. Liscovitz one-upped his teammate with an 8.900, while Haagensen brought in the team's highest score of the finals; a 9.250 to give the Illini their second-best team score of the season, a 35.600.

With a newly revitalized determination, the Illini headed to high bar. Lung opened the Illini lineup with an 8.600, while Wiest continued to have his best meet of the year, charting a career-high 8.950, his second record setting performance of the night. Stannard followed the performance with an 8.550, while Boyer brought the Illini fans to their feet after sticking his dismount to record an 8.900. With the Orange and Blue faithful thinking they had seen it all; Silcox wowed the spectators, sticking the second straight Illini dismount to card a career-best 9.350. Haagensen, looking to not get out-done by his Illinois teammate, stuck UI's third straight dismount to cap-off one of the best routines of the night and a career best for the Belleville, Ill., native with a score of 9.650.

With their momentum continuing to rise, the U of I headed to floor, where they had set a school-record 37.950 the night before during team qualifying. Williamson set what would be another record-setting pace, as he tabbed a 9.100 to get things started, while Boyer continued to raise the benchmark with a 9.400. His mark, a career-high, besting his previous of a 9.300 he set a day earlier during team qualifying, only got things started for Illinois who was not done giving fans the best performance on floor of the night.

Yamauchi, not looking to disappoint the Illini fans, put together his career-best routine, recording a 9.650, only to be tied by teammate Silcox, who also tossed in a career-high 9.650. Thinking they had seen the best, Wiest came through with more to help Illinois for sure top its school record, which was a little more than a day old, as he turned in a 9.550. With chances of only increasing its school-best, Haagensen did just that, scoring a 9.600 to make the new team record a 38.450, smashing the previous high of a 37.950.

"I mean as a team, we would have liked to finish higher, but I think we did great tonight," Wiest said. "I am glad to advance to individual finals tomorrow. I hope that I have a better routine tomorrow and put myself in position to win the title on floor."

With one rotation left and looking at an opportunity to finish third overall, Illinois would need yet another top-performance on pommel horse.

Getting off to the start it needed, Liscovitz proceeded to keep the career nights going as he connected on his top routine of 2007, registering a career-best 8.450. Yamauchi then tied his second career-best of the night, tossing in an 8.550 to give the Illini another boost. However, the Illini could not keep the top performances going as Haagensen, who would tossed in an 8.250, was followed by Stannard (8.450) to provide the final counting scores of the evening for a team total 33.700. The mark would not be enough to keep Illinois in the top three, as they would slip down to fifth where they would finish the 2007 NCAA Championships.

Illinois is the first eighth seed to advance to the team final session since 2002, when then No. 8 Michigan also finished second in their qualifying session, and only the third team to accomplish the feat since 2000 when the NCAA switched to a two-session qualifying system.

Since the beginning of gymnastics rankings in 1996 by Troester.com, only three other teams ranked No. 8 have finished in the top six at nationals, including Iowa finishing fourth in 1996, Penn State taking fifth in 2001 and Michigan earning fourth in 2002. Since 1996, Illinois has entered NCAAs as the eighth seed a total of three times, with this season being the first time they have advanced into the finals.

"I hope that this helped send a message to the rest of the country, recruits and our team, that we are still able to compete with the best in nation," Haagensen said about Illinois' Cinderella story at the 2007 NCAA Championships. "I hope that there were a lot of future Illini here to watch us and saying to themselves, who would not want to be a part of that kind of team."

"Overall, I just could not be more proud of this team after today," Hayasaki said. "They did all that you could have asked of them. You always think you could have done a little better, but this team held nothing back today, and did their best."

Advancing to compete in the individual event finals on Saturday night, April 14, at Rec Hall will be Haagensen and Silcox on floor and high bar and Wiest and Yamauchi on floor and vault. Individual finals are set to begin at 7 p.m. ET., with the top eight receiving All-America honors.

NCAA CHAMPIONSHIP TEAM FINAL STANDINGS

Penn State (221.000)
Oklahoma (220.200)
Stanford (218.450)
Michigan (218.400)
Illinois (217.300)
Minnesota (217.150)

ILLINOIS INDIVIDUAL EVENT QUALIFIERS - Four

Saturday, April 14, 7 p.m.

High Bar (2)

Floor Exercise (4)

Chad Wiest

Vault (2)

Chad Wiest

Tyler Yamauchi

TEAM FINALS - Finished Fifth (217.300)

Friday, April 13, 7 p.m.

Parallel Bars (35.600)

! High Bar (36.850)

*!$ Floor Exercise (38.450)

Pommel Horse (33.700)

Still Rings (37.200)

Vault (35.500)

! Team Total (217.300)

KEY:

* Finals Team High

! Season High

$ School Record (Under Current Federation de Internationale Gymnastics Code Scoring System, 2001)

ILLINI INDIVIDUAL RESULTS BY EVENT - CHAMPIONSHIP FINALS

PARALLEL BARS

* Wes Haagensen (9.250)

* Brian Liscovitz (8.900)

* Tyler Yamauchi (8.800)

* Chad Wiest (8.650)

Andres Saavedra (8.600)

Chris Lung (8.400)

HIGH BAR

*!$(2) Wes Haagensen (9.650)

*!$ Chris Silcox (9.350)

*!$ Chad Wiest (8.950)

* Michael Boyer (8.900)

Chris Lung (8.600)

Luke Stannard (8.550)

FLOOR EXERCISE

*!$(T2) Chris Silcox (9.650)

*!$(T2) Tyler Yamauchi (9.650)

*(T7) Wes Haagensen (9.600)

*(10) Chad Wiest (9.550)

!$ Michael Boyer (9.400)

Tyler Williamson (9.100)

POMMEL HORSE

*!% Tyler Yamauchi (8.550)

* Luke Stannard (8.450)

*!$ Brian Liscovitz (8.450)

* Wes Haagensen (8.250)

Andres Saavedra (7.950)

Chris Lung (7.650)

STILL RINGS

* Tyler Yamauchi (9.550)

* Jon Drollinger (9.400)

* Wesley Haagensen (9.250)

* Nick Stango (9.000)

Tyler Williamson (8.950)

Chris Lung (DNC)

VAULT

*(T8) Tyler Yamauchi (9.050)

*!% (T8) Chad Wiest (9.050)

* Wesley Haagensen (9.000)

* Chris Silcox (8.400)

Tyler Williamson (8.200)

Michael Boyer (8.000)

ALL-AROUND

(2) Wes Haagensen (55.000)

KEY:

* Counted Toward Team Score

! Individual Season-High Score

& Team Season-High Score

$ New Career High

% Tied Career High

(-) Indicates Top-10 Finish to Advance to Individual Finals

SESSION I QUALIFYING TEAM STANDINGS

*Stanford 216.350
*ILLINOIS 216.300
*Michigan 215.350
Ohio State 214.250
Iowa 209.500
Army 194.800

SESSION II QUALIFYING TEAM STANDINGS

1. *Penn State 218.900

2. *Oklahoma 218.600

3. *Minnesota 216.900

California 216.550
Nebraska 209.100
Temple 205.400

* Advanced to team finals on Friday

ILLINI TEAM RESULTS BY EVENT- SESSION I QUALIFYING

SESSION I - Finished 2^nd (216.300)

Thursday, April 12, 1 p.m.

Parallel Bars (34.850)

High Bar (35.700)

*!$ Floor Exercise (37.950)

! Pommel Horse (34.700)

! Still Rings (37.750)

Vault (35.350)

! Team Total (216.300)

KEY:

* Session I Team High

! Season High

$ School Record (Under Current Federation de Internationale Gymnastics Code Scoring System, 2001)

ILLINI INDIVIDUAL RESULTS BY EVENT - SESSION I QUALIFYING

[All records set below were as of the end of the qualifying Session I on April 12. The most current records should be found in the team finals above.]

PARALLEL BARS

*(5) Brian Liscovitz (9.000)

* Wes Haagensen (8.650)

* Chad Wiest (8.650)

* Tyler Yamauchi (8.550)

Andres Saavedra (8.150)

Chris Lung (7.900)

HIGH BAR

*(3) Wes Haagensen (9.300)

*(T4) Chris Silcox (8.950)

*!$ Chris Lung (8.900)

* Michael Boyer (8.550)