April 4, 2007

CHAMPAIGN, Ill.- The eighth-ranked University of Illinois men's gymnastics team will compete in the 1 p.m. ET afternoon qualifying session of the 2007 NCAA men's gymnastics championships on April 12 at Rec Hall in University Park, Pa. Illinois joins fellow Big Ten teams No. 1 Ohio State, No. 5 Michigan, and No.9 Iowa, as well as No. 4 Stanford and No. 12 Army in the hunt for a qualifying team finals bid.

Head coach Yoshi Hayasaki is realistic about the challenge that awaits the Orange and Blue at the championships.

"We have a tough qualifying group," said Hayasaki. "However, I am confident that we are ready to step-up and compete with the best of them."

The 7 p.m. ET evening session will feature championship host, and third-ranked, Penn State University, No. 2 Oklahoma, No. 6 Minnesota, No. 7 California, No. 10 Temple, and No. 11 Nebraska. The top-three teams from each qualifying session will compete the following evening in the NCAA team championship.

The Orange and Blue will begin their qualifying session on parallel bars and end on vault, an event the Illini experienced great success upon at the 2007 Big Ten Championships last weekend. Junior Tyler Yamauchi nailed his vault (9.575) to edge-out Minnesota's Mitchell Mays (9.375) for the conference championship event title.

The 65th annual event will be held at Rec Hall at Penn State University in University Park, Pa. Team qualifying rounds are at 1 and 7 p.m. ET on Thursday, April 12. Team Finals follow on Friday at 7 p.m. ET, and the event finals are scheduled for 7 p.m. ET on Saturday, April 14.