2 ILLINOIS at NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS
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MEN’S GYMNASTICS ABOUT THE MEET After securing its 28th B1G title in school history a couple weeks ago, the Orange and Blue will look for a National title this weekend in Chicago. The second-ranked Illini compete in the second session of the preliminary round against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 7 Penn State, No. 9 Iowa and No. 12 California. Meet action is set to begin at 7 p.m. CT. The finals will be held on Saturday, beginning at 6 p.m. CT. NOTEWORTHY #2 ILLINOIS - Illinois has won 10 national championships in program history (‘39, ‘40, ‘41, ‘42, ‘50, ‘55, ‘56, ‘58, at ‘89, ‘12). NCAA CHAMPIONSHIPS - Nine Illini gymnasts have come away with event titles on the season, including Baker, Bull, A. Diab, M. Diab, Eggleston, Light, McLellan, Ngai and Quiana. FRIDAY & SATURAY, APRIL 20 & 21 - Alex Diab’s nine still rings titles ranks T-1st in school history for a single season and is one away from CHICAGO, ILL. tying for the most all time. Diab is also third for career rings titles with 19. ILLINOIS QUICK FACTS - Brandon Ngai sits at third all-time with 23 career pommel horse titles. - Chandler Eggleston is tied for seventh in school history with 11 career vault titles. Location . Urbana-Champaign, Ill. - Bobby Baker’s 15.000 vault run against Michigan broke a school record under the current scoring Founded . .1867 system. Baker also came away with the best all-around total in school history (82.700). Enrollment ................................44,942 - Brandon Ngai posted a 15.300 on pommel horse against Michigan to mark a new school record under Nickname ............................Fighting Illini Colors............................ Orange and Blue the current points system. Conference................................Big Ten - Bobby Baker posted an all-around total of 83.000, which marks a new school record under the current President ...........................Timothy Killeen points system. Chancellor ..........................Robert J. Jones Athletic Director . Josh Whitman - UI’s team total of 413.900 at the B1G Champs marks a season high and ranks eighth in school Home Gym ........................Huff Hall (3,800) history under the current scoring system. 2017-18 Preseason NCAA Ranking ................5th - The Illini posted season-best scores on vault (72.000) and high bar (70.150) at the B1G Champs. The 2017-18 Preseason Big Ten Ranking ..............3rd 2017 Big Ten / NCAA Finish . 2nd/3rd vault total ranks second in program history under the current scoring system. National Champions Returning/Lost ............... 1/0 - Under the current scoring system, the Illini also posted the second-best floor total in school history All-Americans Returning/Lost ....................4/0 (71.400), the 5th best rings score (70.300) and the fourth-best vault total (71.850) at Penn State on Letterwinners Returning/Lost ...................15/4 January 27. Newcomers.....................................5 Website......................... FIGHTINGILLINI.com - A year ago, the Illini placed third at the event behind champion Oklahoma (3x) and runner-up Ohio Twitter ...............................@Illinimgym State. Instagram............................. @Illinimgym Facebook . .www.facebook.com/Illinimgym 2017-18 MEN’S GYMNASTICS ROSTER No. NAME YR. EVENT HOMETOWN/PREVIOUS SCHOOL ATHLETICS COMMUNICATION INFORMATION 23 Bobby Baker Sr. AA Lemont, Ill./Lemont Men’s Gymnasics Contact ................. Kevin Cole 13 Tyson Bull Sr. AA The Basin, Victoria, Australia/Victorian Col. of the Arts [email protected] 34 Alex Diab Jr. AA Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West Office Phone ........................217-300-1503 45 Max Diab Fr. FX, SR, VT Glen Ellyn, Ill./Glenbard West Cell Phone ..........................847-644-2928 Alma Mater.............................Illinois ‘17 1 Joel Diaz Fr. AA Cypress, Texas/Cypress Woods 24 Chandler Eggleston R-Sr. AA Jamestown, N.C./Southwest Guilford 21 Danny Graham So. FX, PB, SR Clarendon Hills, Ill./Hinsdale Central 2017-18 SCHEDULE 15 Johnny Jacobson Jr. AA Syracuse, Utah/Syracuse 30 Justin Jepsen Fr. AA Pleasant Grove, Utah/American Fork 17 Connor Jones R-Fr. FX, HB, VT Haymarket, Va./Thomas Jefferson DATE OPPONENT TIME 4 Jacob Light So. AA Macungie, Pa./Emmaus DEC. 9 ORANGE & BLUE EXHIBITION Orange, 11-10 97 Jordan Kovach Fr. AA Chickasha, Okla. Jan. 13 Windy City Invitational (Chicago, Ill.) 1st of 4, 404.300 2 Blake Martin Jr. FX,PH,VT,HB Columbus, Ohio/Columbus Academy Jan. 20 ARIZONA STATE W,, 407.700-387.700 7 Harry McLellan Sr. PH,VT Wyckoff, N.J./Bergen Catholic 10 Dennis Minton Sr. SR Cincinnati, Ohio/Gahanna Lincoln Jan. 27 Penn State W, 412.500-405.900 16 Tommy Mistretta R-Fr. AA Easton, Pa./Livermore Feb. 3 Iowa W, 404.700-401.850 42 Brandon Ngai Sr. PH Sacramento, Calif./Heritage Peak Charter School Feb. 10 Minnesota L, 408.000-406.550 88 Michael Paradise So. PH Bartlett, Ill./Bartlett Feb. 15-17 Winter Cup (Las Vegas, Nev.) NTS 98 Cobey Pava Fr. AA Chicago, Ill./Wolcott Feb. 24 MICHIGAN # W, 405.200-394.900 32 Sebastian Quiana So. FX, HB, PB, VT Oradell, N.J./River Dell 18 Andreas Silbermann Sr. FX, PB, PH, SR Chandler, Ariz./Petaluma March 3 Stanford Invite 4th of 6, 404.250 6 Ross Thompson Jr. FX,VT,PB,HB Kansas City, Mo./UMKC March 9 AIR FORCE/UIC 1st of 3, 405.700 3 Zach Treadway R-Fr. AA Norman, Okla./Connections Academy March 17 OKLAHOMA # L, 412.300-399.700 April 6-7 B1G Championships (Ann Arbor, Mich.)# 1st of 7, 413.900 Head Coach: Justin Spring (8th season) April 20-21 NCAA Championships (Chicago, Ill.) TBA Associate Head Coach: Daniel Ribeiro (7th season) Assistant Coach: Don Osborn (3rd season) • All times Central and subject to change Volunteer Assistant Coach: Joey Peters (1st season) • All home meets in BOLD CAPS and held at Huff Hall Director of Operations: Max Soifer (1st season) # Denotes meets aired on BTN $ Denotes meets aired on BTN+ LAST TIME OUT CGA WEEKLY RANKINGS* The Fighting Illini came away with a season-best 413.900 performance at the B1G Championships to earn their 28th conference title in school history. The Orange and 1. Oklahoma 359 Blue also picked up event titles from both Alex Diab (rings) and Chandler Eggleton 2. ILLINOIS 329 (high bar). 3. Minnesota 301 4. Stanford 293 ILLINI TOP WOLVERINES 5. Michigan 285 6. Ohio State 283 The Fighting Illini picked up a 405.200-394.900 win over No. 8 Michigan last 7. Penn State 265 weekend at Huff Hall. Senior Bobby Baker led the way, earning three titles on the 8. Nebraska 257 night, including the top all-around total of 82.700. 9. Iowa 215 10. Navy 186 Ngai, A. Diab and Quiana also earned event titles at the meet. Ngai posted a season- 11. Air Force 185 high 15.300 on pommel horse to come away with his 20th career title on the event, 12. California 164 while Diab picked up his 16th career still rings title (14.150). Quiana came away with 13. William & Mary 150 a career-high 14.450 on parallel bars to earn his second event title on the season. 14. Army 123 15. Arizona State 110 BAKER EARNS B1G WEEKLY HONOR *Rankings based on 2018 CGA Week 13 Coaches Poll (UPDATED 4/9/18) Following an impressive performance in the win over Michigan, Bobby Baker was named Big Ten Gymnast of the Week. The senior posted season-high scores on both TOP SCORES OF 2018 vault (15.00) and high bar (14.350) to earn titles and also finished with the top Illini floor total (13.750) to secure a third-place finish in the event behind Michigan’s TEAM Total Emyre Cole and Jacob Moore. 413.900............................................... at B1G Champs (4/6) Floor Exercise The vault score of 15.000 marks a new school record (under the current scoring 71.400.................................................at Penn State (1/27) system) and is the third highest total in the nation this season. The honor marks the Pommel Horse second for the Lemont, Illinois, native, this season and the fifth of his career. 68.800...................................................Air Force/UIC (3/9) Still Rings 2018 WINTER CUP CHALLENGE 70.300.................................................at Penn State (1/27) Vault Five Illini gymnasts traveled to Las Vegas to compete in the annual Winter Cup 72.000.................................................at B1G Champs (4/6) Challenge, Feb. 15-17. Alex Diab, Joel Diaz, Johnny Jacobson, Jordan Kovach and Parallel Bars Brandon Ngai were the athletes in attendance. Diab, Jacobson and Ngai advanced to 68.250.....................................................Michigan (2/24) the finals, with Diab finishing with his 15th career still rings title and Brandon Ngai High Bar 70.150...................................................B1G Champs (4/6) placing third on pommel horse with scores of 14.650 and 14.400. INDIVIDUAL All-Around NARROW VICTORY OVER IOWA 83.000 Bobby Baker....................................at B1G Champs (4/6) The Orange and Blue topped No. 10 Iowa (404.700-401.850) in a road dual meet a 82.700 Bobby Baker........................................Michigan (2/24) 80.900 Bobby Baker.....................................at Minnesota (2/10) week ago, as the Illini won four of the six events, including senior Brandon Ngai’s 77.950 Alex Diab .............................at Windy City Invitational (1/13) 18th career pommel horse title. Floor Exercise 14.800 Alex Diab ......................................at Penn State (1/27) 14.600 Sebastian Quiana..............................at Stanford Invite (3/3) Sophomore Sebastian Quiana earned his first event title of the season and third of 14.550 Alex Diab ........................................Air Force/UIC (3/9) his career with a 14.300 on floor exercise, while junior Alex Diab moved into a tie 14.500 Sebastian Quiana................................at Penn State (1/27) for 7th place all-time in school history with his 13th career still rings title (14.550). Pommel Horse 15.300 Brandon Ngai.......................................Michigan (2/24) Senior Tyson Bull also picked up his third high bar title of the season and 12th of his 15.250 Brandon Ngai..........................at Windy City Invitational (1/13) Brandon Ngai.....................................Air Force/UIC (3/9) career, posting a 14.100.