No. 7 Illinois (0-4-1,0-1) hoped to rebound after a fourth-place finish at the OSU Open. However, it fell short against Big Ten foe No.5 Penn State (2-0,1-0), losing 311.000-316.800 at the Sam Mikulak Invitational.
Crucial leaders and scorers
The Illini are trying to continue their five-year streak of NCAA championship appearances. They’re led in that direction by their very strong upperclassmen, who account for 75% of the competitive lineup routines. However, the 25% who are underclassmen are still crucial.
In the first rotation, sophomore Nathan Whitaker bailed the Illini out of having to count a 10.800 by winning the event title with his 13.600. Whitaker is ranked third in the nation on floor exercise with dynamic double salto passes. Junior Garrett Schooley finished as a runner-up with a close 13.400.
Whitaker was singled out as a special player by head coach Daniel Ribeiro postmeet as he reflected on the bounce-back with optimism for his team.
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“Nathan Whitaker had a really great meet today, and he has been looking excellent in the gym. We still have a lot of work to do collectively to position us better for postseason,” Ribeiro wrote to Fighting Illini Athletics.
Despite digging themselves into a hole with a sub-50 score after the first rotation, the team was able to score above 52 on four of the five remaining rotations. Schooley highlighted the run, scoring a 14.350 on vault, the highest number across all apparatus in the competition.
Junior Sam Kaplan also won an event title on the parallel bars with a score of 13.650. Junior Brandon Dang is second in the nation on pommel horse and has been stellar his whole career on the event. He scored a 13.800 after demonstrating much tenacity between the pommels.
Quick turnaround
Dominating the final event of the high bar left the Illini with a positive experience to conclude the meet. Four of the top six scores came from the Orange and Blue, amongst many high-flying Tkatchev release moves and a few stuck dismounts.
“We had a really rough start to today’s competition, but I was really proud how we finished up the last three events,” Ribeiro wrote to Fighting Illini Athletics.
Next up
The Illini have a huge home meet with postseason implications next Saturday at 12 p.m. CDT. Illinois will host reigning National Champions No. 5 Michigan (5-1, 0-0) at Huff Hall for their ‘Hail to the Orange Out’ meet.
