Illinois men’s gymnastics flipped its way to first place this afternoon at Greenville. The Illini came out on top with an overall score of 400.950 against Greenville’s 388.650, marking its third program win against Greenville. Not only did the Illini win the meet overall, but they also won every event in the meet.
Fifth-year all-around Michael Fletcher broke his career high against Greenville with a 14.300 floor routine. Fletcher shared his emotions going into his last year competing for Illinois in potentially his last year in the sport. Fletcher noted that while he’s always given it his all, that feeling is even more prominent this year, as it is his last hurrah.
“There’s always going to be emotions I think they probably haven’t sunk in yet,” Fletcher said. “I think the one thing that’s been prominent in my mind is the fact that this is my last year, probably my last year in the sport as well, so there’s really nothing holding me back physically and mentally where I can just leave everything out there, kind of give it my all in this last year.”
Freshman Brandon Dang earned a score of 14.450 and a title on the pommel horse. Senior Ashton Anaya, two-time still ring champion for the Big Ten, scored 14.450 on the still rings and won the event. Another career high was broken for all-around sophomore Tate Costa, who scored a win for the Illini on the parallel bars with a score of 13.650. Another first-time career title win for all-around freshman Garrett Schooley was on the vault with a score of 14.750. All-around senior Logan Myers, who scored 14.000 on the high bar, also took home a win.
In Fletcher’s eyes, Illinois is capable of beating anyone. This stems from an overall belief in the locker room that this group is special. Overall, the team tries to focus on bettering itself instead of beating a certain team.
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“Each meet is an opportunity to prove something to ourselves,” Fletcher said. “I think these meets are less about beating someone and more about just bettering ourselves, and if we can just continue to better ourselves, then we can beat anyone. We have a really talented team this year with a really strong mindset. We can do some pretty special things this year.”
Fletcher also hopes to bring more awareness to the team on campus. The team’s contagious energy is something that Fletcher knows would amp up the home crowd, feeding off of their energy and impressing them with what the Illini can do.
“We have four home meets which is more than we’ve had in the past, so I’m really looking forward to that,” Fletcher said. “I’m extremely excited about having Big Tens at home. Hopefully we can bring a big crowd and hopefully bring a big student crowd, bring some awareness to men’s gymnastics on campus. We’re a really, really fun and exciting team to watch and I think if people come to meets, they’re going to be extremely impressed with how we do. They’re just going to have a lot of fun and feed off of our energy.”
Illinois men’s gymnastics will have its home opener at Huff Hall to compete against No. 2 Oklahoma at 4 p.m. on Jan. 28.
