Illinois men’s gymnastics suffered a massive 10.500-point loss to Nebraska on Sunday, 406.050-416.550. In addition to that, the Illini fell two places in the rankings going from No. 2 to No. 4 while the Cornhuskers climbed two places in the rankings from No. 5 to No. 3. The loss for Illinois marked its first in almost eight weeks, with the most recent loss coming in a season-opening quad meet on Jan. 13.
This unexpected loss for the Illini comes with less than a month to go before the Big Ten championship. The Illini are now 11-2 overall and 1-1 in conference.
Illinois still had some amazing individual performances in each of the six events despite cumulatively finishing behind Nebraska in all six. Starting on the floor, freshman Garret Schooley, graduate Michael Fletcher, junior Amari Sewell, sophomore Tate Costa and graduate Connor McCool collectively scored 68.200 points. Both Schooley and Fletcher scored 13.750, but it was McCool’s 14.000 that earned him a third-place finish on the floor.
Up next, the Illini competed on the pommel horse, where Schooley, junior Mak Farkhadau, freshman Preston Ngai, senior Will Hauke and freshman Brandon Dang earned the second-highest event score of the day for Illinois with 69.300 points. Hauke’s performance earned him a 14.400 and third place while Dang’s performance earned him first place with a score of 15.150.
Senior Ashton Anaya was 0.100 points away from earning first on the still rings, scoring 14.100. Anaya, Schooley and seniors Sebastian Ingersoll, Logan Myers and Ethan Boder combined to earn an additional 68.100 points for the Illini, who sat at 205.600 points halfway through the meet and trailed the Cornhuskers by almost six points.
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However, McCool, Ngai, Fletcher, Schooley and Sewell all had exceptional performances on the vault, which earned the team its highest event score for the day at 70.400. Sewell was the highest scorer on the team for Illinois with a 14.700, which was just 0.050 points away from first place.
On the parallel bars, Costa, Myers, freshman Vahe Petrosyan, Hauke and Fletcher all had great performances and earned the Illini 68.950 points. Petrosyan ended up in third place with a score of 14.050, and Hauke earned the first-place title scoring 14.650.
Lastly, on the high bar, the Illini saw their lowest score for the meet with a total of 61.100 points. Despite this, Ingersoll, Costa, sophomore Ryan Vanichtheeranont, Myers and Fletcher put up a fight for the Illini at the end.
Schooley represented the Illini in the all-around, scoring a 13.500 on the high bar and tying for second place in the event. The freshman also came in second place for the all-around thanks to a total of 80.100 points across the six events.
No. 4 Illinois men’s gymnastics will celebrate its senior night on Saturday, hosting No. 7 Ohio State at 2 p.m.
