November is a month when training should be picking up and routines should be set but for this season it was a month of injuries for the Illinois men’s gymnastics team.

Preseason training started with high energy and high goals. After winning the 2012 NCAA Championship, the Illini felt like there was nothing they couldn’t accomplish. Sophomore C.J. Maestas provided experience after competing in Olympic Trials during the summer, as was senior Yoshi Mori, who competed in the 2012 Visa Championships. Illinois seemed well on its way to defending its title.

In early November, Maestas tore his right tricep while working at 85 percent on an air flare to incorporate into his floor routine. With no serious problems to his tricep before, the injury was unexpected.

“Those injuries when you go down and you think, ‘Oh, I stubbed my toe or just hyperextended my knee,’ this wasn’t one of those,” Maestas said. “When I went down, I knew I was in trouble. At that moment, all I felt was pain.”

Last season as a freshman, Maestas earned seven individual awards, including Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Big Ten all-around champion, NCAA still rings champion and runner-up in the all-around. He was also voted as Illinois’ MVP by his teammates. Not being able to contribute during competitions this season, Maestas has taken on a new role.

“I hope vocally my emotion is still in the gym,” he said. “Just because I’m in an ice bag or I’m not in there physically like I usually am, that shouldn’t change my personality within the team. It’s a different role that I’m not used to taking on, but it’s growing on me.”

Things only turned worse when Vince Smurro suffered an injury while practicing his floor routine. Smurro was performing a tumbling pass, and in the process of landing, his knee hyperextended. He thought that he had torn his meniscus, but the news he received was even worse.

“The doctor said it looks like someone just took a hammer to my bone,” Smurro said. “There was a huge crater in my tibia, which increased the instability in my knee.”

The senior and captain learned he’d need to take a 10-week absence from competing. Smurro found himself in a similar position as Maestas, taking on a more vocal role as a captain.

“I’ve never had a big injury like that,” Smurro said. “I’ve never had an injury last more than a week or two in my gymnastics career. … I had a couple meetings with (head coach) Justin (Spring) and he helped me a lot in terms of what my mindset should be and what my role as a leader should be.”

After a short Thanksgiving break, the team slowly adjusted without Maestas. But the tight-knit group would lose another member the first day back in the gym. Junior Cameron Rogers slightly hurt his knee before the break and was trying to take it easy while warming up his floor routine. Rogers went crooked in the air while practicing a floor exercise pass on the tumble track, which caused him to land on the edge, and his foot rolled off. He not only broke his foot in two places but tore open his toe and was forced to get stitches.

“I was pretty frustrated because I’d been having a really good preseason,” Rogers said. “Training was going really well, and we were six weeks out from our first meet. I was concerned about getting back and being ready for the first meet or midseason or anything.”

These were only three major injuries that occurred in addition to a few smaller ones from major contributors, such as Mori, who has strained his Sternoclavicular joint and back so far this season. Mori is still suffering pain in his back, which took him out of the all-around competition last weekend at the Metroplex Challenge, though he did compete on a few events. 

Problems slowly started to arise as the season quickly approached, and the Illini tried to fill the position of those who were injured.

“We kind of had to frame the goal and mission we had as a team to make sure that everyone understood that we aren’t the same team, but we have potential to do good things this year,” Spring said. “The work ethic needs to step up and no one needs to try and replace C.J. by trying to be C.J. … You have to be the best you can be and that’s what we need.”

With a domino effect of injuries, Illinois’ energy has sputtered from the start of training. Kenney Gym was not full of life and excitement over winter break like it usually was.

“It was tough with so few guys doing routines because everyone wasn’t ready to do routines,” Spring said. “Typically, the energy over winter break is building and snowballing, just getting bigger and more exciting and we definitely lacked that.”

Doctors this month cleared Rogers and Smurro, who both have competed in meets this season. But Maestas can still be found cheering from the sidelines. He is currently ahead of schedule with rehab, which he attributes to the way he approaches it.

“I come into rehab and it’s not like, ‘OK, bored, moving my arm.’ I’m in there acting as if I’m doing gymnastics,” Maestas said. “I attack rehab like I do everything else in life. If I have a busy rehab schedule, I treat it like I have a busy gymnastics schedule.”

Maestas said he feels “phenomenal” and will be attending another doctor’s appointment in early February. He will get another checkup in hopes of proving that he can come back sooner than expected. Maestas is so confident that he was even testing out his skills in the gym last week.

“I jumped up on the rings and everyone’s eyes just turned and looked because they aren’t used to me being back on the rings,” Maestas said. “Everyone expression was, ‘Whoa, he’s coming back quick.’ Little things like that push me even harder.”

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