Thirty routines, six events and one fall can now change it all.

The Illinois men’s gymnastics team has competed in a six-up, five-count format since early in the season. This was a small change from the six-up, four-count format the men had competed in previous years. However, an even bigger change is yet to come on March 1, when the permanent format of a five-up, five-count will be enacted. This means that only five men will perform routines per each event and each score will count.

“It’s going to be a little difficult,” senior Austin Phillips said. “Consistency is going to be key for literally everything. You have to just do what you have been doing your entire life and keep training harder to get better. It doesn’t matter if it’s five-up, five-count or one-up, one-count. You have to go out there and do your job.”

The five-up, five-count format existed previously in the NCAA in the early 1980s. The new format will reflect international competition style, which is a three-up, three-count. Freshman Joey Peters, like many other Illini gymnasts, has competed internationally before and hopes to use his experience as an advantage. Those who don’t have experience have been prepared by the Illini coaching staff.

“Two or three weeks ago we had an NCAA simulation, which was a five-up, five-count,” Peters said. “The first day was a little rough, at least for me. I didn’t fully take it serious, like every routine counts. Looking back at that day, it’s almost like a slap in the face. You can’t mess up anymore. The next day, we had a really good second day where we hit over 80 percent.”

The NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Committee’s proposal wasn’t without reason. Previous formats have led to confusion inside of the men’s gymnastics fan base — which is small enough to begin with. Falls and mistakes would occur, but no repercussions were seen in the results due to the ability to drop one or two of the lowest scores. The change is in part for the collegiate gymnastics fans.

“You have a little bit of a NASCAR effect,” Illinois head coach Justin Spring said. “Fans know that crashes are bad, but that’s exciting because it is a big sway in the meet. In the past, a fall really wasn’t bad because it didn’t possibly affect the team. Now you know a fall is bad, and that can change the sway or momentum of the meet. It’s like a missed shot or a missed field goal in football, the audience knows they had an opportunity, they missed it and now they have to come back.”

With each routine now counting, whether a mistake is made or not, the amount of difficult routines may drop. The skills that wow the crowd when hit and make fans’ jaws drop when missed will now be fewer. The risk is no longer worth the reward.

“The teams that have some more of the heavier hitters this year, like C.J. Maestas or more guys like him, that have the ability to throw huge starts, may be less inclined to do that because they lend themselves more to mistakes,” Spring said. “In the old format, six-up, four-count, you could drop two scores. So, you may have four consistent guys in front and then the big hitters. You don’t have that luxury anymore, and I think you are going to see a little bit more conservative gymnastics.”

For Illinois, lineups have the potential to drastically change. One fewer Illini member will get the opportunity to compete on each event. The competitive energy will rise in the gym this week as the men fight for one of the five spots in lineup.

“It’s going to affect (lineups) pretty viciously,” Phillips said. “There are always guys that are right on the cusp of making lineup and are doing so well, and then you have some guys who maybe have been in lineup for a while but are starting to trail off. You don’t know if you should put that person in, you don’t know if you should take that person out. Reality is here, and now we are going to have to choose one of them.”

The Illini will transfer to the new format this weekend at Huff Hall. Illinois will face No. 1 Penn State in its second co-ed meet of the season. After a disappointing appearance in front of the home crowd against Iowa, Illinois will be seeking redemption.

“For us, it’s going to be nerve-wracking,” Peters said. “It’s going to be stressful that night before Saturday. I don’t know how much sleep I’m going to be able to get.

“I’m just excited to get back home and have a better meet than we had two weekends ago against Iowa,” Peters said. “That was tough. What we did wasn’t what we expected. Hopefully we can go out and show the crowd 30 routines up and 30 routines hit. If we do that, we are going to finish where we want to finish.”

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