Following a pair of bye weeks, No.3 Illinois men’s gymnastics returned to Huff Hall for a Friday night tri-meet. The Illini totaled 410.500 points while competing against William & Mary (374.950) and Simpson (363.050), which brought their overall season record to 11-1.
Junior Amari Sewell explained that the two weeks off allowed the team to come back stronger, specifically noting that the constant cycle of competing each week had begun to take a toll on their bodies.
“After five weeks of straight competitions, we were kinda beat up,” Sewell said. “The two weeks allowed us to recoup and get our bodies back together. Also, add in upgrades to bump up our start values and score higher.”
Despite a couple of falls and deductions, the Illini swept the meet and had an event winner in each of the six events. Their domination began on the floor, where freshman Garret Schooley, graduate student Michael Fletcher, graduate student Evan Manivong, sophomore Tate Costa and graduate Connor McCool all delivered impressive performances. McCool scored a 14.700 to win the event, and five athletes’ scores combined for 69.700.
Next up, Illinois made its way to the pommel horse, where another 68.900 points were earned. Fletcher, Schooley, freshman Preston Ngai, senior Will Hauke and freshman Brandon Dang were Illinois’ five competitors, and Dang’s score of 14.950 gave him the win.
Get The Daily Illini in your inbox!
Illinois went on to perform on the still rings, where Ngai, sophomore Kyle Mayotte, senior Ethan Boder, senior Logan Myers and senior Ashton Anaya earned a total score of 67.700. Schooley later went on to perform as the all-around and earned 14.050 points, but Anaya took the event win with 14.400.
Halfway through the meet, the Illini had a comfortable lead with 206.300 points. Illinois tackled the vault next, and despite William & Mary providing a challenge, Illinois claimed its fourth event, winning 70.800-70.000. Sewell scored 14.400 and won the event as an individual. Fletcher, Ngai, McCool and Schooley also all delivered exceptional performances to boost Illinois by over 70 points.
Sewell explained that working to negate preflight deductions has been his goal recently.
“I’ve been working on lessening my preflight deduction,” Sewell said. “It just worked out to the point where I only got four-tenths off rather than three-tenths off on the pre and then three-tenths off on the post.”
After a close matchup on the vault, Illinois came back to win the parallel bars with a seven-point win. Sophomore Ryan Vanichtheeranont, freshman Vahe Petrosyan, senior Logan Myers, Hauke and Fletcher all contributed to the Illini’s 68.700 point performance. There were close scores in the top three. Hauke had 14.000 and Fletcher had 14.050, but it was ultimately Petrosyan who scored 14.150 and took the win for the parallel bars.
Finally, the Illini closed out the meet with another win, this time on the high bar (64.700). Illinois out-scored William & Mary (59.950) and Simpson (55.150) by a large margin to sweep the events as a whole. Petrosyan, Vanichtheeranont, Myers, Fletcher and Costa were the final five Illini to compete at the meet, and Vanichtheeranont’s 14.000 point routine won the event.
Schooley was Illinois’ all-around competitor and finished in first place. He totaled 79.400 points altogether thanks to a 13.400 on the floor, 12.500 on the pommel horse, 14.050 on the still rings, 14.700 on the vault, 12.500 on the parallel bars and 12.900 on the high bar.
Schooley’s score was comprised of career-highs in the pommel horse, still rings and the high bar while also being a career-high in the all-around event itself.
No single individual can win a meet for the Illini, which is something the team is acutely aware of, Sewell said.
“All of us together combined add … 5% personality, which then makes up the whole 100%,” Sewell said. “A lot of us contribute in different ways and that then makes us one big glowing ball of happiness, leadership and spirit.”
Illinois men’s gymnastics will be back in action next week for a conference matchup in Lincoln, Nebraska. No. 3 Illinois will take on No. 5 Nebraska on Sunday at 1 p.m. CT.
