Illini Dominate No. 2 OSU, Set School Record - 3/6/99

The fifth-ranked Illinois men's gymnastics team swept the top two spots in the individual all-around and dominated No. 2 Ohio State with a dramatic school-record 230.00-227.750 victory Saturday night at Huff Hall.

With the win, the Illini improved to 6-8, 4-8 in the Big Ten.

The nation's top-rated all-arounder Travis Romagnoli (Aurora, Ontario) won event for the sixth straight week by a score of 57.80, beating three of the top six all-arounders in the country. Sophomore Leo Oka (Scarborough, Ontario) took second with his career-best score of 57.40. Romagnoli also placed first on pommel horse with a score of 9.650 and on high bar, tying a season team-high 9.90. Oka won the still rings with a 9.70 mark. Junior Linh Hoang (Houston, Texas) had outstanding performances on vault and floor where he finished second with respective scores of 9.60 and 9.70.

"We had a great night," head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "It all came together tonight. We finally put all the pieces together. However, I don't want our guys to be satisfied with this score because I feel we can work on things and top this competition."

Ohio State's Tim Elsner, the nation's top-ranked gymnast on floor, won the event with a 9.80. OSU's Jamie Natalie tied Romagnoli for first place on pommel horse, while Doug Stibel tied Romagnoli for the high bar title. Stibel won vault with a 9.650 mark and Peter Landry won parallel bars with a 9.70. Tying Oka for first on rings was OSU's Landry and Daren Lynch with a 9.70. Natalie the third-ranked all-arounder in the nation placed third in the event 57.10, while Elsner (ranked sixth) took fourth with a 56.00 and Stibel (ranked fifth) took fifth with a 55.750.

The Illini will take to the road next weekend as they begin a two-meet roadtrip in California. The trip begins with a matchup against the defending national champion California on March 12.