The Illinois men’s gymnastics team’s performance at the NCAA Championships was a mirror reflection of its season. 

Amid a struggling team performance came standout individual routines. The Illini started the qualifier session on the parallel bars, earning a 68.800 — the second-lowest score of the season and lowest of any team during the afternoon session. They moved to the pommel horse later in the competition, but it was once again the Achilles’ heel after posting a season-low of 66.200 on the event; however, the Illini managed to place third (426.900) in the Session I Qualifier of the NCAA Championships and advanced to the NCAA Team Finals for the 11th straight season.

“It was close, and we were relieved we got in,” senior Vince Smurro said. “We knew that we had work to do, though. That was step one and we knew we had to do our jobs in the team finals.”

Illinois started the Super Six competition with a shaky start on the high bar. Senior Austin Phillips closed the rotation with a strong performance of 14.7, which earned him a fourth-place finish overall and an opportunity to compete in the event finals. The Illini moved to the floor exercise, where they did not recover, posting a 71.450 — the third-lowest score of the season. Illinois continued to struggle on the pommel horse once again and weren’t able to develop the momentum desperately needed.

“This year, once again, our lineup was made up of individual specialists, and I think the pressure built on them so much, and with not doing any other events, I think it really got to the lineup,” Illinois head coach Justin Spring said. “We swapped lineups around more than ever, and I think that hurt us in the long run.”

At the end of the night, Illinois placed sixth out of six teams with a season-low score of 422.550. Michigan claimed the NCAA crown with a 443.200 followed by Oklahoma (440.100), Stanford (436.150), Penn State (436.100) and Iowa (426.450). Olympian Sam Mikulak from Michigan earned the NCAA all-around title with a 91.150. The last time Mikulak earned the title was in 2011. Illinois all-around competitor Joey Peters placed eighth in the competition, earning his first All-American honors as a freshman.

Though Illinois struggled all weekend as a team, individual Illini found success in the event finals. Sophomore Mike Wilner was named All-American after placing fifth in the rings event final with a 15.15. Freshman Fred Hartville garnered another award, becoming the NCAA vault champion after another stuck vault, posting a 15.425. It was only two weeks ago that Hartville earned the honor of Big Ten vault champion.

“It was like I knew he was going to do it again, but when he did it, I was in complete and utter disbelief,” Spring said. “It is truly amazing. He has been on fire and it seemed as if it was going to be too good to be true if it happened again, and then he did it. I was in disbelief, but so proud of him for stepping up.”

Senior Austin Phillips closed out his career as an Illini with an outstanding high bar performance posting a season-high 14.95, earning him All-American honors and second place in the event finals. This is the second year in a row that Phillips has earned All-American honors.

“Austin finished out his senior year with a bang,” he said. “He had one of the best high bar performances I have ever seen him do.”

Though as a team the Illini couldn’t pull it together, they were well-represented by a few standout gymnasts. Spring said this sixth-place finish is what the team needed in order to start a more serious and disciplined training format in the summer.

“We need to re-evaluate at the core what we stand for,” Spring said. “What I mean by that is setting standards that we truly believe in. I think we highlighted a lot of things at the beginning of the year that we valued and were important, and I don’t know that we really picked the ones that resonated with the team. I think the team acknowledges and is actually looking forward to a little bit more structure in that area. I think that is a big message for a team to face.”

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