After opening Big Ten competition last Saturday with a win over Ohio State, the No. 4 Illinois men’s gymnastics team is in State College, Pennsylvania, for a top-five match against No. 5 Penn State on Sunday.

Illinois and Penn State are not just ranked in the top five when considering meets as a whole, but the teams are also ranked in the top five of every event; Illinois is ranked higher than Penn State in every event except pommel horse. Illinois furthermore boasts seven individual gymnasts in the top 10 of five events plus all-around, including a No. 1 ranking for sophomore Evan Manivong on vault. Penn State, meanwhile, has one gymnast in the top 10 of pommel horse and one gymnast in the top 10 of all-around.

Penn State is 1-0 on the season, having easily dispatched Army 383.650-355.200 two weeks ago. Led by 30-year head coach Randy Jepson, the Nittany Lions’ roster features four seniors, three of whom won event titles against the Black Knights. Senior Alex Frack, a 2020 All-American on high bar, picked up where he left off last season by winning that event, as well as parallel bars, against Army. Backing up the seniors are juniors like Nick Mock, a 2020 All-American on pommel horse who won that event title against Army and is ranked No. 4 in the nation. Penn State also lays claim to the best freshmen recruiting class of the 2021 season.

“Penn State is a very good program,” said Illinois head coach Justin Spring. “They’re kind of like us. They’re pretty well-rounded with heavy-hitting potential on almost every event.”

Just as the Illini saw improvement against Ohio State compared to how they performed against Northern Illinois, Spring expects Penn State to do the same thing on Sunday. The 383.650 they scored against Army is fairly low by NCAA standards. Moving into Big Ten competition, Penn State’s gymnasts are less likely to take risks on their routines, which will result in higher scores.

“They had a season opener like we did that just doesn’t make sense,” Spring said. “That’s not indicative of the kind of team they are this year. They are a strong team.”

To beat the Nittany Lions, Spring says, the Illini have to avoid counting routines that have mistakes and falls. At this point in the season, teams have six gymnasts compete in each event with only the best five counting toward the team’s overall score. Against Ohio State, the team had to count two high bar routines that were marred by falls as the meet concluded, something that didn’t cost them last weekend, but something that has cost them in the past.

Spring is hoping for big performances out of his gymnasts who have high start values: sophomores Manivong and Connor McCool on floor exercise and vault, senior Tommy Mistretta and junior Ian Skirkey on pommel horse and graduate student Danny Graham and senior Jordan Kovach on still rings, just to name a few. Competing in all six events as all-arounders are juniors Michael Fletcher and Hamish Carter, the latter of whom came away from Ohio State last weekend with all-around and parallel bars titles.

While Spring said the team might be able to gain some ground over Penn State on parallel bars, he predicted it will likely be a close meet.

“I really think we’re evenly matched,” Spring said. “I think it’s going to come down to hit-for-hit, assuming that no one has a meltdown. If we do our jobs and don’t open doors, I don’t think they’ll get the better of us.”

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