COLLEGE ASSOCIATION BIG TEN CONFERENCE GYMNASTICS CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS April 2-3, 2010 By Jerry Wright

closer in the fifth rotation on , posting their second-best score of the season (58.850) behind Anthony Sacramento's career-high score of 15.150 to tie for second place to pull within 1.85 of first place. In the final rotation on , Illinois tallied its third-best score of the season, led by Ruggeri's first-place finish (16.200) to overcome the deficit and claim the title. Ruggeri finished in fourth place in the all- around (86.600), while freshman Yoshi Mori (84.450) placed ninth anD Tyler Mizoguchi (83.000) claimed 10th. In the event finals the Illini again came through strong with Ruggeri 1st V, 1st HB; Wiest 4-FX, 6-PB; Ribeiro 1st-PH, Stannard 4th-PH; Mizoguchi 5th-PH, 7th-SR; Sacra- UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: BIG TEN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS-2010 mento 5th-SR; Mori 7th-V; Padera 1st-PB, 3rd-HB; Loscovitz 2nd-PB, 6th-HB.

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS ments and did their job." UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN The Fighting Illini won its second straight The Illini began the Chris Cameron won the all-around as the Big Ten title Friday night, rallying past night on , University of Michigan finished second at the Michigan in the last rotation to take the crown where C.J. Padera placed Big Ten Championships on Friday (April 2) with a final team score of 359.700. First-year first and tied his career at St. John Arena. The University of Illinois associate head coach Justin Spring became high with a score of took the title, besting the Wolverines 359.700 the first Illinois men's gymnastics coach to 15.000, while Brian Lisco- -358.150. win the Big Ten title in his first season at the vitz tallied a 14.550 to The Wolverines were led by the 1-2 all- helm. Michigan took second place (358.150), place fifth. Next, on high around finish of Cameron, who posted a ca- followed by Penn State (347.300), Ohio State bar, the Illini earned their reer-best 89.800, and senior Mel Anton (346.950), Minnesota (346.500) and Iowa second-highest team score Santander who totaled 88.450 points. (337.800). of the season with a This Big Ten Championship is the 25th in 60.400, led by Paul Rug- Illinois history, the most among any Big Ten geri who placed first with CAMERON school. Additionally, 10 different Illini ad- a score of 16.000. Padera vanced to Saturday night's event finals by tied for fourth place finishing in the top-10 plus ties, instead of the (14.950), while Liscovitz top eight as in previous years. At least one recorded a new career Illini qualified on each event. high (14.900) and Luke "Today, the guys really embodied what it Stannard tied for eighth means to be a Fighting Illini," Spring said. " I place with a score of think two of the most pivotal moments were 14.550. our two big guys on , Daniel In the third rotation on Ribeiro and Luke Stannard and Chad Wiest , Chad Wiest claimed on floor. Their great performances on pom- the title with a score of mel horse really set the tone heading into our 15.550, followed by Stan- weakest event, rings. Everyone had great mo- nard in fifth place RUGGERI (15.000). Illinois entered the night ranked first in the RIBEIRO Big Ten on pommel horse and again domi- nated, tallying its third-best team score of the season (59.650), behind Daniel Ribeiro (15.650) and Stannard (15.200), who claimed first-and-second place finishes on the event. Padera secured a sixth-place finish with a Continued next page: season-high score of 14.650. Still trailing the Wolverines, the Illini edged

The Wolverines led for the first five rota- State's efforts Onorato (vault) and Justin Myers (parallel tions, but the Fighting Illini finished strong on on the still bars). Shachar Tal is an alternate for parallel the Vault. Michigan finished strong on the still rings, finish- bars. rings, posting a 59.850, the highest total on ing fifth with Ty Echard tallied a 14.800 to lead the Buck- the event in the competition, but it was not a score of eyes and finish fifth on PH. enough to hold off the challenge of the Illini. 15.050. Mi- On rings Wynn led the charge on the event, Phillip Goldberg and Cameron posted marks guel Pineda Mike Behles was second on the team and sev- of 15.150. ( T 7 t h , enth overall, tallying a 14.950. Michigan began competition on the vault 14.950), On Vault Onorato secured a 16.050, a score where Kent Caldwell stuck his attempt for a Noam Sha- that placed him second. Coming in second 15.900. David Chan set a season best ham (10th, (fourth overall) for the Buckeyes was Behles (15.850) on his double front, giving the Wol- 14.800), and with a 16.00. Wynn rounded out the Top 3 for verines their second-best vault total of the f r e s h m a n Ohio State with his mark of 15.950. which season. Matt Chel- also served as the fifth-best overall. The event rotation, drawn at random, had berg also con- ARONOVICH Myers owned a 14.400 on parallel bars the Wolverines following the Illini to parallel tributed key which was seventh-best over-all. bars in the second rotation. The Wolverines routines. Just like he began the evening, Wynn again posted their second-best total of the sea- Nick Virbitsky earned PSU's top score in ended the night leading Ohio State as he son with a 58.850, 1.050 better than the Fight- finishing in a tie for third place in the floor posted a 14.300 on high bar. There were two- ing Illini, the top-ranked team in the Big Ten exercise. His score of 15.300 was the third- way ties for both second and fourth place. on the parallel bars. Santander led the way for best by a Nittany Lion this year. Myers and freshman Blaize Monks recorded the Wolverines, posting a 14.950, while Ryan Competing in the all-around for just the sec- 13.950s. McCarthy and Cameron added matching ond time this year, freshman Felix Aronovich See page four for event finals results. marks of 14.850. placed seventh with a personal and team sea- In rotation three, U-M moved to high bar son best score of 84.800. UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA where McCarthy came through for the second See page four for event finals results. The University of Minnesota finished fifth time with a career-best score, posting a at the Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Champion- 15.150. Ian Makowske and Thomas Kelley OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY ships. were solid, giving the Wolverines scores of The Buckeyes finished the 2010 Big Ten Minnesota finished the team portion of the 15.000 and 14.950, respectively. Championships in fourth place with 346.950 meet with a score of 346.500, just narrowly The Wolverines were solid on the floor ex- points. Brandon Wynn finished third in the all missing out on fourth place. The host Ohio ercise. Cameron tied his career record, receiv- -around, tallying a score of 87.700 in a closely State Buckeyes finished just ahead of the Go- ing a 9.650 execution score and a 15.650 final contested all-around competition. Backed by phers with a 346.950 score. mark. Caldwell stuck his double twisting dou- his first-place 15.950 on rings, Wynn, the na- The Gophers were better than their season ble back for a 14.800. tion's top-rated competitor on the event, out- average on the pommel horse, but couldn't Michigan moved to the pommel horse, distanced his nearest competitor by .800 score better than Thomas O'Brien's 14.100 on where three of the first Wolverines to take to points. the apparatus. On the rings, Minnesota only the event suffered falls. Chan, Cameron and entered five of the six allowed. Russell Santander salvaged the rotation with scores Dabritz led the way with a 14.400. WYNN of 14.300, 14.950 and 14.850, respectively. See page four for the results of the individ- ual event finals. FORTUNATO PENN STATE UNIVERSITY Penn State didn't perform at its best on Fri- day evening at the team finals of the Big Ten Championships but the Nittany Lions did well enough to overtake two teams ranked above them, including host Ohio State, to place a surprising third. Penn State posted a The Buckeyes began the evening on floor, team score of 347.300, a total just above its with Wynn pacing the Scarlet and Gray with a season average of 346.556 but below its three 14.950 for sixth place overall. score average of 349.033. Wynn will compete for the individual title Penn State had its struggles in the floor ex- on floor, rings and vault at 7 p.m. Saturday in ercise (58.800), pommel horse (53.450), and St. John Arena. Also joining Wynn in the indi- vault (61.700). vidual finals will be Ty Echard (pommel Continued next page Freshman Scott Rosenthal headlined Penn horse), Mike Behles (rings and vault), Philip Reichow paced Minnesota on the vault with a solid 15.850 tally. In fact, the Gophers did- n't count a score of less than 15.500 on the vault, traditionally one of their strongest events. Aaron Fortunato led the way for Minnesota on the parallel bars with a 14.500, but the Gophers had to count two scores of less than 14.000 on the apparatus. Minnesota struggled somewhat on the high bar, as well. Fortunato scored a 14.300 on the bar, but was the only Gopher to score better than 14.000. In the all-around, Fortunato finished fifth with a score of 86.150, earning first-team All- Big Ten honors. See page four for event finals results.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA Ben Ketelsen and Jonathan Buese had outstanding performances for the Iowa men's gymnastics team and both qualified for the individual finals. The team finished sixth at the Big Ten Championships Friday night. Iowa posted a 337.800 while the winner, Illi- nois, recorded 358.700. Ketelsen had a season best performance in two events, to lead Iowa. The junior tied for second on vault. His 16.050 score tied Buese as the team's highest in the event this season. He also led Iowa in the pommel horse, with a team-best 14.450 score, placing seventh. Ketelsen qualified for both vault and pommel horse individual event finals. Buese led the Hawkeyes in rings (14.150) with a 21st place finish. Buese also placed ninth (15.750) in vault and eighth on all- around (84.6500). Buese led Iowa on parallel bars (14.000) placing 16th and on floor (14.600) tying for 13th. Buese qualified for finals on vault.

BUESE

See page four for event finals results.

COLLEGE GYMNASTICS ASSOCIATION BIG TEN CONFERENCE

2010 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT INDIVIDUAL EVENT RESULTS April 2-3, 2010

TEAM SCORES 1) Illinois 359.70 WYNN 2) Michigan 358.15 3) Penn State 347.30 4) Ohio State 346.95 5) Minnesota 346.50 6) Iowa 337.80 ALL AROUND 1) Chris Cameron, Mich 89.80 2) Mel Anton Santander, Mich 88.45 3) Brandon Wynn, OSU 87.70 4) Paul Ruggeri, Ill 86.60 5) Aaron Fortunato, Minn 86.15 6) Thomas Kelley, Mich 85.30 7) Felix Aronovich, Penn St. 84.80 8) Jonathan Buese, Iowa 84.65 FLOOR EXERCISE 1. Chris Cameron Mich 15.425 CAMERON 2. Nick Virbitsky Penn St. 15.375 3. Colin McGuire Minn 15.350 CAMERON 4. Chad Wiest Ill 15.175 5. Ian Makowske Mich 15.100 6. Adam Reichow Minn 15.025 7. Brandon Wynn Ohio St 14.900 8. Ben Baldus-Strauss Mich 14.775 POMMEL HORSE RIBEIRO 1. Dan Ribero Ill 15.625 2. Ty Echard Ohio St 15.325 3. Thomas O'Brien Minn 14.625 4. Luke Stannard Ill 14.600 5. Tyler Mizoguchi Ill 14.450 6. Mel Santander Mich 14.275 7. David Chan Mich 13.800 8. Ben Ketelsen Iowa 13.725 STILL RINGS 1. Brandon Wynn Ohio St 15.850 2. Chris Cameron Mich 15.200 3T Phillip Goldberg Mich 15.125 3T Miguel Pineda Penn St 15.125 5. Anthony Sacramento Ill 15.075 6. Thomas Kelley Mich 14.975 7T Noam Shaham Penn St 14.750 7T Tyler Mizoguchi Ill 14.750 VAULT 1. Paul Ruggeri Ill 16.350 2. Philip Onorato Ohio St 16.300 3. Brandon Wynn Ohio St 16.000 RUGGERI 4. Adam Reichow Minn 15.900 5. Nick Grant Penn St 15.825 6. Kent Caldwell Mich 15.750 7. Yoshi Mori Ill 15.575 PADERA 8. Jonathan Buese Iowa 15.500 PARALLEL BARS 1. Craig Padera Jr. Ill 14.975 2. Brian Liscovitz Ill 14.950 3. Mel Santander Mich 14.850 1. Paul Ruggeri Ill 15.550 4. Tony Beck Penn St 14.375 2. Thomas Kelley Mich 15.300 5. Aaron Fortunato Minn 14.350 3. Craig Padera Jr. Ill 15.200 6T Chad Wiest Ill 14.325 4. Ian Makowske Mich 15.050 6T Justin Myers Ohio St 14.325 5. Mel Santander Mich 14.900 8. Chris Cameron Mich 14.300 6. Brian Liscovitz Ill 14.825 7T Noam Shaham Penn St 14.725 7T Ryan McCarthy Mich 14.725