UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

The Fighting Illini won its second straight

Big Ten title Friday night, rallying past

Michigan in the last rotation to take the crown

with a final team score of 359.700. First-year

associate head coach Justin Spring became

the first Illinois men's gymnastics coach to

win the Big Ten title in his first season at the

helm. Michigan took second place (358.150),

followed by Penn State (347.300), Ohio State

(346.950), Minnesota (346.500) and Iowa

(337.800). This Big Ten Championship is the 25th in

Illinois history, the most among any Big Ten

school. Additionally, 10 different Illini ad-

vanced to Saturday night's event finals by

finishing in the top-10 plus ties, instead of the

top eight as in previous years. At least one

Illini qualified on each event.

"Today, the guys really embodied what it

means to be a Fighting Illini," Spring said. " I

think two of the most pivotal moments were

our two big guys on pommel horse, Daniel Ribeiro and Luke Stannard and Chad Wiest

on floor. Their great performances on pom-

mel horse really set the tone heading into our

weakest event, rings. Everyone had great mo-

ments and did their job."

The Illini began the

night on parallel bars,

where C.J. Padera placed

first and tied his career

high with a score of

15.000, while Brian Lisco-

vitz tallied a 14.550 to

place fifth. Next, on high

bar, the Illini earned their

second-highest team score

of the season with a 60.400, led by Paul Rug-

geri who placed first with

a score of 16.000. Padera

tied for fourth place

(14.950), while Liscovitz

recorded a new career

high (14.900) and Luke

Stannard tied for eighth

place with a score of

14.550.

In the third rotation on floor, Chad Wiest claimed

the title with a score of

15.550, followed by Stan-

nard in fifth place

(15.000).

Illinois entered the night ranked first in the

Big Ten on pommel horse and again domi-

nated, tallying its third-best team score of the

season (59.650), behind Daniel Ribeiro

(15.650) and Stannard (15.200), who claimed

first-and-second place finishes on the event. Padera secured a sixth-place finish with a

season-high score of 14.650.

Still trailing the Wolverines, the Illini edged

closer in the fifth rotation on rings, posting

their second-best score of the season (58.850)

behind Anthony Sacramento's career-high

score of 15.150 to tie for second place to pull

within 1.85 of first place. In the final rotation

on vault, Illinois tallied its third-best score of

the season, led by Ruggeri's first-place finish

(16.200) to overcome the deficit and claim the

title. Ruggeri finished in fourth place in the all-

around (86.600), while freshman Yoshi Mori

(84.450) placed ninth anD Tyler Mizoguchi

(83.000) claimed 10th.

In the event finals the Illini again came

through strong with Ruggeri 1st V, 1st HB;

Wiest 4-FX, 6-PB; Ribeiro 1st-PH, Stannard

4th-PH; Mizoguchi 5th-PH, 7th-SR; Sacra-

mento 5th-SR; Mori 7th-V; Padera 1st-PB,

3rd-HB; Loscovitz 2nd-PB, 6th-HB.

UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN

Chris Cameron won the all-around as the

University of Michigan finished second at the

Big Ten Championships on Friday (April 2)

at St. John Arena. The University of Illinois

took the title, besting the Wolverines 359.700

-358.150.

The Wolverines were led by the 1-2 all-

around finish of Cameron, who posted a ca-

reer-best 89.800, and senior Mel Anton

Santander who totaled 88.450 points.

COLLEGE GYMNASTICS ASSOCIATION BIG TEN CONFERENCE

CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIPS April 2-3, 2010

By Jerry Wright

GYMNASTICS

Continued next page:

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS: BIG TEN CONFERENCE CHAMPIONS-2010

RIBEIRO

RUGGERI

CAMERON

The Wolverines led for the first five rota-

tions, but the Fighting Illini finished strong on

the Vault. Michigan finished strong on the still

rings, posting a 59.850, the highest total on

the event in the competition, but it was not

enough to hold off the challenge of the Illini.

Phillip Goldberg and Cameron posted marks

of 15.150.

Michigan began competition on the vault where Kent Caldwell stuck his attempt for a

15.900. David Chan set a season best

(15.850) on his double front, giving the Wol-

verines their second-best vault total of the

season.

The event rotation, drawn at random, had

the Wolverines following the Illini to parallel

bars in the second rotation. The Wolverines

again posted their second-best total of the sea-

son with a 58.850, 1.050 better than the Fight-

ing Illini, the top-ranked team in the Big Ten on the parallel bars. Santander led the way for

the Wolverines, posting a 14.950, while Ryan

McCarthy and Cameron added matching

marks of 14.850.

In rotation three, U-M moved to high bar

where McCarthy came through for the second

time with a career-best score, posting a

15.150. Ian Makowske and Thomas Kelley

were solid, giving the Wolverines scores of

15.000 and 14.950, respectively.

The Wolverines were solid on the floor ex-

ercise. Cameron tied his career record, receiv-ing a 9.650 execution score and a 15.650 final

mark. Caldwell stuck his double twisting dou-

ble back for a 14.800.

Michigan moved to the pommel horse,

where three of the first Wolverines to take to

the event suffered falls. Chan, Cameron and

Santander salvaged the rotation with scores

of 14.300, 14.950 and 14.850, respectively.

See page four for the results of the individ-

ual event finals.

PENN STATE UNIVERSITY

Penn State didn't perform at its best on Fri-

day evening at the team finals of the Big Ten

Championships but the Nittany Lions did

well enough to overtake two teams ranked

above them, including host Ohio State, to

place a surprising third. Penn State posted a

team score of 347.300, a total just above its

season average of 346.556 but below its three

score average of 349.033.

Penn State had its struggles in the floor ex-ercise (58.800), pommel horse (53.450), and

vault (61.700).

Freshman Scott Rosenthal headlined Penn

State's efforts

on the still

rings, finish-

ing fifth with

a score of

15.050. Mi-

guel Pineda

( T 7 t h ,

1 4 . 9 5 0 ) , Noam Sha-

ham (10th,

14.800), and

f r e s h m a n

Matt Chel-

berg also con-

tributed key

routines.

Nick Virbitsky earned PSU's top score in

finishing in a tie for third place in the floor

exercise. His score of 15.300 was the third-best by a Nittany Lion this year.

Competing in the all-around for just the sec-

ond time this year, freshman Felix Aronovich

placed seventh with a personal and team sea-

son best score of 84.800.

See page four for event finals results.

OHIO STATE UNIVERSITY

The Buckeyes finished the 2010 Big Ten

Championships in fourth place with 346.950

points. Brandon Wynn finished third in the all

-around, tallying a score of 87.700 in a closely contested all-around competition. Backed by

his first-place 15.950 on rings, Wynn, the na-

tion's top-rated competitor on the event, out-

distanced his nearest competitor by .800

points.

The Buckeyes began the evening on floor,

with Wynn pacing the Scarlet and Gray with a

14.950 for sixth place overall.

Wynn will compete for the individual title

on floor, rings and vault at 7 p.m. Saturday in St. John Arena. Also joining Wynn in the indi-

vidual finals will be Ty Echard (pommel

horse), Mike Behles (rings and vault), Philip

Onorato (vault) and Justin Myers (parallel

bars). Shachar Tal is an alternate for parallel

bars.

Ty Echard tallied a 14.800 to lead the Buck-

eyes and finish fifth on PH.

On rings Wynn led the charge on the event,

Mike Behles was second on the team and sev-

enth overall, tallying a 14.950.

On Vault Onorato secured a 16.050, a score that placed him second. Coming in second

(fourth overall) for the Buckeyes was Behles

with a 16.00. Wynn rounded out the Top 3 for

Ohio State with his mark of 15.950. which

also served as the fifth-best overall.

Myers owned a 14.400 on parallel bars

which was seventh-best over-all.

Just like he began the evening, Wynn

ended the night leading Ohio State as he

posted a 14.300 on high bar. There were two-

way ties for both second and fourth place. Myers and freshman Blaize Monks recorded

13.950s.

See page four for event finals results.

UNIVERSITY OF MINNESOTA

The University of Minnesota finished fifth

at the Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Champion-

ships.

Minnesota finished the team portion of the

meet with a score of 346.500, just narrowly

missing out on fourth place. The host Ohio

State Buckeyes finished just ahead of the Go-phers with a 346.950 score.

The Gophers were better than their season

average on the pommel horse, but couldn't

score better than Thomas O'Brien's 14.100 on

the apparatus. On the rings, Minnesota only

entered five of the six allowed. Russell

Dabritz led the way with a 14.400.

Continued next page

ARONOVICH

WYNN

FORTUNATO

Reichow paced Minnesota on the vault with

a solid 15.850 tally. In fact, the Gophers did-

n't count a score of less than 15.500 on the

vault, traditionally one of their strongest

events. Aaron Fortunato led the way for Minnesota

on the parallel bars with a 14.500, but the

Gophers had to count two scores of less than

14.000 on the apparatus. Minnesota struggled

somewhat on the high bar, as well. Fortunato

scored a 14.300 on the bar, but was the only

Gopher to score better than 14.000.

In the all-around, Fortunato finished fifth

with a score of 86.150, earning first-team All-

Big Ten honors.

See page four for event finals results.

UNIVERSITY OF IOWA

Ben Ketelsen and Jonathan Buese had

outstanding performances for the Iowa men's

gymnastics team and both qualified for the

individual finals. The team finished sixth at

the Big Ten Championships Friday night.

Iowa posted a 337.800 while the winner, Illi-

nois, recorded 358.700.

Ketelsen had a season best performance in

two events, to lead Iowa. The junior tied for

second on vault. His 16.050 score tied Buese as the team's highest in the event this season.

He also led Iowa in the pommel horse, with a

team-best 14.450 score, placing seventh.

Ketelsen qualified for both vault and pommel

horse individual event finals.

Buese led the Hawkeyes in rings (14.150)

with a 21st place finish. Buese also placed

ninth (15.750) in vault and eighth on all-

around (84.6500). Buese led Iowa on parallel

bars (14.000) placing 16th and on floor

(14.600) tying for 13th. Buese qualified for

finals on vault.

See page four for event finals results.

BUESE

COLLEGE GYMNASTICS ASSOCIATION BIG TEN CONFERENCE

2010 CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP REPORT

INDIVIDUAL EVENT RESULTS

April 2-3, 2010

TEAM SCORES 1) Illinois 359.70 2) Michigan 358.15 3) Penn State 347.30

4) Ohio State 346.95 5) Minnesota 346.50 6) Iowa 337.80

ALL AROUND 1) Chris Cameron, Mich 89.80 2) Mel Anton Santander, Mich 88.45 3) Brandon Wynn, OSU 87.70 4) Paul Ruggeri, Ill 86.60

5) Aaron Fortunato, Minn 86.15 6) Thomas Kelley, Mich 85.30 7) Felix Aronovich, Penn St. 84.80 8) Jonathan Buese, Iowa 84.65

FLOOR EXERCISE

1. Chris Cameron Mich 15.425 2. Nick Virbitsky Penn St. 15.375 3. Colin McGuire Minn 15.350

4. Chad Wiest Ill 15.175 5. Ian Makowske Mich 15.100 6. Adam Reichow Minn 15.025 7. Brandon Wynn Ohio St 14.900 8. Ben Baldus-Strauss Mich 14.775

POMMEL HORSE

1. Dan Ribero Ill 15.625 2. Ty Echard Ohio St 15.325

3. Thomas O'Brien Minn 14.625 4. Luke Stannard Ill 14.600 5. Tyler Mizoguchi Ill 14.450 6. Mel Santander Mich 14.275 7. David Chan Mich 13.800 8. Ben Ketelsen Iowa 13.725

STILL RINGS

1. Brandon Wynn Ohio St 15.850 2. Chris Cameron Mich 15.200

3T Phillip Goldberg Mich 15.125 3T Miguel Pineda Penn St 15.125 5. Anthony Sacramento Ill 15.075 6. Thomas Kelley Mich 14.975 7T Noam Shaham Penn St 14.750 7T Tyler Mizoguchi Ill 14.750

VAULT

1. Paul Ruggeri Ill 16.350

2. Philip Onorato Ohio St 16.300 3. Brandon Wynn Ohio St 16.000 4. Adam Reichow Minn 15.900 5. Nick Grant Penn St 15.825 6. Kent Caldwell Mich 15.750 7. Yoshi Mori Ill 15.575 8. Jonathan Buese Iowa 15.500

PARALLEL BARS

1. Craig Padera Jr. Ill 14.975 2. Brian Liscovitz Ill 14.950 3. Mel Santander Mich 14.850 4. Tony Beck Penn St 14.375 5. Aaron Fortunato Minn 14.350 6T Chad Wiest Ill 14.325 6T Justin Myers Ohio St 14.325 8. Chris Cameron Mich 14.300

CAMERON

RUGGERI

HORIZONTAL BAR

1. Paul Ruggeri Ill 15.550 2. Thomas Kelley Mich 15.300 3. Craig Padera Jr. Ill 15.200

4. Ian Makowske Mich 15.050 5. Mel Santander Mich 14.900 6. Brian Liscovitz Ill 14.825 7T Noam Shaham Penn St 14.725 7T Ryan McCarthy Mich 14.725

CAMERON

WYNN

RIBEIRO

PADERA