Fielding a lineup that was nearly complete, the Illini seniors made good on their prediction of ousting Michigan, doing so with a 357.150-353.200 win.

The senior class all made significant contributions in the win, save Ross Bradley who was still sidelined with injury. The duo of Wes Haagensen and Tyler Yamauchi led the Illini, with each taking an event title and Haagensen winning the all-around title.

Haagensen’s score of 89.600 tied him for the fifth-best score in the nation this year in all-around, something that Haagensen will be looking to build on in the coming weeks.

“It was a big step for myself, and everyone else, as far as competition,” Haagensen said.

“We haven’t been able to put it together as we’ve wanted to. Being that it was our last home meet at Huff Hall, it was just added motivation to perform.”

The Illini were able to use that motivation to finally accomplish their goal of hitting at least 85 percent of their routines, which showed in their highest team point total of the season.

“My goal for that meet was not necessarily to beat Michigan but to hit routines,” head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said.

“We had been inconsistent, and I was looking for a much better performance consistency-wise. As far as beating Michigan, it came with [consistency].”

With only three of the four judges in attendance, the meet had an unusual feel to it as both teams were forced to improvise.

Instead of the normal two-event rotation with two judges on each event, both teams participated in the same event with an athlete from each team alternating on the same event.

The impromptu judging system allowed the meet to be scored in real-time, something that Michigan co-captain Paul Woodward told the Michigan Daily he likes “because you know exactly where you’re at.”

The scoring system was something the Illini did not like, or even look at, throughout the meet.

But had they kept an eye on the scoreboard, there was a good chance they would have found themselves in first place.

“We just wanted to get into our own zone and try not to pay attention to what the Michigan guys were doing or how they were competing,” junior Chris Lung said.

Even with Illinois trying to turn a blind eye to the judging, things got heated between the two teams early, when Michigan tried to “psyche out” the Illini, as Haagensen said.

“They have this chant that they were doing, ‘Let’s go Blue,’ and they started doing it right before (Daniel) Ribeiro started his pommel horse routine,” Yamauchi said with a smile.

“Right as Ribeiro raised his hand, our whole team and the whole crowd started to chant louder than them. It was something that I’ve never experienced before; we were able to drown out a team that was trying to get into our heads.”

Yamauchi’s smile widened as his voice became chipper because he knew that Ribeiro’s performance following the chanting was scored a 15.600, the second-best score in the nation this year.

“Ribeiro was able to do his best routine of the year, so that really shut (Michigan) up,” Yamauchi added.

Even on a day highlighted by the performances of the seniors, it was the overall effort that made the last home meet special not only for the six seniors but the entire team.