Team of the century: 2012 men’s gymnastics team ends championship drought
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
June 12, 2020
The Illinois men’s gymnastics team achieved its greatest success of the 21st century in 2012, when the team won the NCAA men’s gymnastics championship. It was the team’s tenth national championship in program history and its first since 1989, ending a 23-year team championship drought. In addition,...
Edwards, Paradise receive Big Ten Medals of Honor
By Claire O'Brien, Staff Writer
May 16, 2020
Illinois announced Taylor Edwards, senior in AHS, and Michael Paradise, senior in Engineering, as the recipients of the Big Ten Medal of Honor on Wednesday via Twitter. Each year, the University honors one male and one female senior athlete with the award. Edwards played four seasons of softball and ...
Illini celebrate eighth anniversary of National Championship
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
April 20, 2020
Today is the eighth anniversary of the Illinois men’s gymnastics team’s most recent national championship. On April 20, 2012, in Norman, Oklahoma, third-year head coach Justin Spring led the Illini to the 10th national championship in program history, the program's first since 1989. The gymnast...
Five Illini receive All-American accolades
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
April 13, 2020
On March 21, the College Gymnastics Association announced the names of 39 male collegiate gymnasts who received a total of 50 All-American accolades in six events (everything but all-around) for the shortened 2020 season. Five Illini were among those 39 gymnasts: senior Sebastian Quiana and freshman...
Illini of the season: Carter, McCool shine among talented roster
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
April 5, 2020
The Illinois men’s gymnastics team had only two regular-season competitions left in its 2020 season and was starting to look forward to the postseason. The team had accumulated an 8-3-1 record, including a perfect 5-0-0 record at Huff Hall, and notched wins over ranked Big Ten foes Michigan, Nebraska and...
Stephens gets second chance at Olympics
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
March 27, 2020
Sophomore gymnast Clay Stephens has dreamed of representing his native Australia in the Olympics since he was five years old. This year, Stephens finally had a chance to fulfill that dream by qualifying for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, but his hopes seemingly ended on Feb. 20 when he suffered ...
Illini road to success comes to a close
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
March 17, 2020
The Illinois men’s gymnastics team left Champaign last Wednesday for San Juan, Puerto Rico for what was supposed to be a special trip, but an otherwise routine competition. The competition never happened. It was canceled, along with every remaining competition the team had scheduled, due to the ong...
Illini to compete in Puerto Rico
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
March 12, 2020
The Illinois men’s gymnastics team usually travels to its competitions via charter bus, but on Wednesday, the team had to fly to the location of its next competition: San Juan, Puerto Rico. The team was awake at 5 a.m. on Wednesday to catch a bus to Chicago, where the Illini boarded a plane bound ...
Illinois defeats Michigan, Penn State on Senior Day
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
March 9, 2020
The No. 5-ranked Illinois men’s gymnastics team faced two tough opponents on Saturday when it hosted No. 2 Michigan and No. 8 Penn State at Huff Hall for Senior Day. Michigan and Penn State are two of the best teams in the Big Ten; Michigan entered Huff Hall undefeated, and Penn State had...
Illinois men’s gymnastics tied for sixth time in 90 years
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
March 5, 2020
Since 1930, the Illinois men’s gymnastics team has competed in over 2,100 head-to-head matchups in dual meets, tri-meets and multi-team invitationals. Of those 2,100 matchups over the last 90 years, the Illini have tied their opponent only six times. The most recent tie in Illinois’ long history...
Diab earns still rings title at Winter Cup Challenge
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
February 27, 2020
Illinois gymnasts Jordan Kovach and Alex Diab competed as individuals last weekend when they competed in the USA Gymnastics Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas. The duo experienced mixed success; Kovach was injured on Day One during his vault landing and was unable to complete the all-around event he was ...
Illinois dominates No. 3-ranked Nebraska at home
By Bradley Zimmerman, Staff Writer
February 3, 2020
The Illinois men’s gymnastics team defeated the No. 3-ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers at Huff Hall Saturday. Illinois won the meet 407.05-399.85, improving to 2-1 in dual meets (1-1 in conference) this season. Illinois dominated Nebraska for the first four events of the meet, accumulating a total sco...
