That’s an Illinois … stuck dismount!

Though this isn’t something Illinois sports fans have heard before, it is part of a new tradition and format Illinois men’s gymnastics head coach Justin Spring is trying to establish this season. His first announcement of the new addition to Illinois gymnastics was at Huff Hall on Sunday afternoon.

A practice run was given to the Illini crowd before the start of the Orange and Blue exhibition meet, formerly known as the mixed pairs competition. A male gymnast executed a standing back tuck with a perfect stuck landing. Following the landing, Spring said into the microphone, “That’s an Illinois …,” and Huff Hall echoed with “stuck dismount!”

“I think there is a culture built into all big, popular sporting events,” Spring said. “Football, you have the first down and for basketball, the Orange Krush is crazy, and I think that volleyball has also done a great job of establishing that culture. This is just one small step in that direction of getting the audience to really bite into the event that is going on, and I think they need a little guidance because gymnastics can be a little overwhelming with what’s going on and not everyone knows all the time when to cheer and when not to cheer.”

This year’s exhibition meet set the start for new traditions at Illinois. Instead of competing in pairs, the men’s and women’s teams were split into two squads — the Orange team and the Blue team. Each unit had a combination of six women and seven men, and the meet consisted of five competitive events for each of the four rotations.

The biggest change was the competition’s format, as each gymnast competed head-to-head.

A member from each team was selected to compete on an event, and the student-athlete judges awarded points to who they thought had the better routine, with the point going toward the team total.

“This format makes it a lot easier for the fans to understand,” sophomore Josh Wilson said. “I think it is a lot more interactive and not so confusing.”

The meet ended in a 10-10 tie, allowing Spring to introduce a tie-breaker. Both teams were brought to the center of the floor to compete in a stick-off.

The first level required gymnasts from each team to perform a standing back tuck with a stuck landing. For it to count toward the team’s total, the landing must be stuck with no hops or steps. If the score remained tied at the end of the first level, a second tie-breaker would begin in which athletes would have to perform standing back pikes. If a third level was necessary, the athletes would then perform standing fulls, which is considered the most difficult of the three skills.

But with a mistake on a landing from the Orange team, the Blue team sealed the victory on the first level of the stick-off.

Illinois will compete in this format when it faces Minnesota in March and will use it as a trial run in hopes that it will be successful.

“It’s one of the things that is still up in the air with the new proposed format,” said Spring, who is in talks with NCAA officials to discuss the possible format change for men’s gymnastics. “What do we do in the event that it does go directly to a tie? With these single points, a tie is more likely than when you have all the decimal points after the original score. People really seemed to like the stick off, but we have to play it out and see what works. It seems crazy, but it is done in other sports.”

This season Illinois will not have its sophomore leader, C.J. Maestas, who has been sidelined with a torn tricep. The Orange and Blue Exhibition was the first time Maestas led from the sideline, but after competing on a national stage at the Olympic trials this summer, he has a lot of experience to share with his teammates.

“It’s a different world for me to be in this year,” Maestas said. “I’m going to give my support in the gym and on the competition floor. Guys need to step up, and I hope that my voice and what I have to say encourages them to do better. I’m never going to change the way that I am because I’m not competing. I’m excited to see what unfolds this season.”

Sunday’s exibition was also light-hearted.

Wilson stopped mid-routine on the parallel bars to answer a phone call from his mom, and Austin Phillips, Malcom Brown and Fred Hartville switched in and out during Brown’s floor routine. The response from Spring after the routine was, “That was Malcom Brown, I guess.”

The jokes are a tradition used to relieve the stress of the gymnasts in a competitive setting.

“Everyone’s funny,” Maestas said. “Everyone’s just who they are, and we never have to change who we are. It makes me more comfortable, and I know the guys love it. The reason why we all came to this school is because of the atmosphere that we always bring into the gym and the competitions.”

After winning the NCAA Championships last year, the Illini are ranked No. 1 in the preseason polls and have a reputation to live up to in the upcoming season.

Illinois will now have a short break before January’s season opener.

“That’s been one of the hardest things, coming off of a NCAA Championship win and then going and getting the preseason No. 1 ranking,” Spring said. “We can kind of use C.J. to spark that situation and say: ‘We are not the same team. We lost some guys. We are injured.’ The intensity and the focus from the guys needs to be at its all-time high if we expect to be a heavily competitive team. That’s going to be the push.”

Gina can be reached at [email protected] and @muelle30.