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Senior Wes Haagensen earns third career Big Ten Weekly honor.
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March 11, 2008
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Senior Wes Haagensen earned his first Big Ten Gymnast of the Week accolade of the season for the week ending March 10, announced the conference office today. Haagensen, in his efforts, helped lift No. 6 Illinois over No. 5 Michigan on Senior Day at Huff Hall to give Illinois its first win over the Wolverines since 1998 en route to setting a season-high 357.150 in the process. The honor is Haagensen's first of 2008, and third of his career, his last coming on Jan. 17, 2007.
Not only did Haagensen display the top performance in the Big Ten this past week, he also produced his best meet of the season in the process. For most of the 2008 campaign, the Illini veteran has been battling through nagging injuries and has slowly worked his way back to the top form that earned him Big Ten Gymnast of the Year in 2007.
So then fittingly on Senior Day, the defending Big Ten all-around champion Haagensen led the charge, taking home top marks in the all-around (89.600) - the tied for fifth-highest score set by any gymnast in 2008 - and parallel bars (14.950). Haagensen took home five top-three finishes on the afternoon in all, posting a second-place outing on high bar (14.900), and a pair of third-place performances on floor (14.700) and rings (15.250). His marks on rings and in the all-around were career-bests.
Haagensen now has 15 top-three finishes on the year, which include four individual titles - two of which came against the Wolverines. The Belleville, Ill., native now joins freshman Paul Ruggeri on the list of Illini honorees for the weekly honor in 2008, with Ruggeri earning the laurel in back-to-back weeks on Feb. 12 and Feb. 19.
