Jan. 19, 2002

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- In front of a crowd of more than 1,100, the University of Illinois men's and women's gymnastics teams opened the home portion of the schedule tonight at Huff Hall. The men defeated Nebraska with a final team score of 210.500-205.500 while the women lost to Illinois State, 193.650-190.375. The men improve to 5-1 on the year and the women are 2-3.

On the men's side, sophomore Scott Wetterling took the all-around title with a total score of 51.050. He was also the individual champion on the high bar (9.350) and the vault (9.250). Wetterling also took third on the floor (9.100), third on the pommel (8.500), 11th on the rings (8.300) and 12th on the parallel bars (6.750).

"We had two goals, to perform well on the parallel bars and to score a 210 as a team," men's head coach Yoshi Hayasaki said. "In the second meet of the season, we did well, and we accomplished both of those. We performed better on floor, rings and high bar. The guys were doing new things today, and that is why we saw mistakes."

In her third collegiate meet, freshman Ashley Williams won her second all-around title. She tied with Illinois State's Heather Mohler with a total of 38.625. She also took the individual title on the uneven bars (9.775). Williams took fourth on the vault (9.775), tied for sixth on the beam (9.800) and finished 12th on the floor (9.274).

"We had two strong events, our first (vault) and our last (floor)," women's head coach Bob Starkell said. "We seemed a little complacent and not totally concentrated coming out of the first event. It took us a few events to get back on track. Our freshman had very strong performances. We have a total of 24 routines to perform, and 16 are from newcomers."

Other individual champions included freshman Peter Shostchuk on the floor (9.100) and senior Jonathan Plante on the pommel horse (9.400). For the women, freshman Lauren Newcomb tied for first on the vault (9.800). Newcomb and junior Jana Gallagher tied for first on floor (9.750).

Both squads remain at home next weekend as they host Big Ten opponents. The men host the Minnesota Golden Gophers while the women take on the Michigan State Spartans Saturday at 7 p.m. at Huff Hall.

Illinois Scores Floor

Bob Spelic 8.00 7.80 7.900 Erik Garnett 7.50 8.00 7.750 Scott Wetterling 8.80 9.00 8.900 Peter Shostchuk 9.10 9.10 9.100 Bob Rogers 9.00 8.90 8.950 Sean-Paul Crawford 8.30 8.50 8.400

Floor Score: 35.350

Pommel

Mike Filla 7.00 7.00 7.000 Bob Spelic 6.60 7.10 6.850 Bob Rogers 8.30 8.20 8.250 Jonathan Plante 9.50 9.30 9.400 Ben Newman 7.90 8.10 8.000 Peter Shostchuk 8.10 8.40 8.250

Pommel Score: 33.900

Rings

John Cano 8.60 8.60 8.600 Jonathan Plante 9.10 8.90 9.000 Scott Wetterling 8.20 8.40 8.300 Ben Newman 8.50 8.70 8.600 J.G. Ketchen 8.60 8.50 8.550 Sean-Paul Crawford 9.10 9.00 9.050

Rings Score: 35.250

Vault

Mike Filla 9.00 8.90 8.950 Sean-Paul Crawford 8.60 8.60 8.600 Peter Shostchuk 8.60 8.80 8.700 J.G. Ketchen 8.90 8.90 8.900 Scott Wetterling 9.20 9.30 9.250 Erik Garnett 8.60 8.90 8.750

Vault Score: 35.850

P. Bar

John Cano 8.60 8.70 8.650 Jonathan Plante 8.70 8.70 8.700 Peter Shostchuk 8.50 8.70 8.600 Bob Spelic 8.60 8.50 8.550 J.G. Ketchen 8.40 8.50 8.450 Scott Wetterling 6.60 6.90 6.750

P. Bar Score: 34.500

H. Bar

Ed Seward 8.30 8.50 8.400 Peter Shostchuk 7.40 7.20 7.300 Bob Rogers 9.20 9.10 9.150 Bob Spelic 7.70 7.50 7.600 J.G. Ketchen 8.50 8.60 8.750 Scott Wetterling 9.30 9.40 9.350

H. Bar Score: 35.650

Final Team Score: 210.500

NEBRASKA SCORES

FLOOR

Josh Koopman 8.60 8.60 8.600 Tony Burtle 8.10 8.10 8.100 Josh Rasile 8.70 8.50 8.600 Steven Friedman 8.50 8.70 8.600 Martin Fournier 7.90 7.80 7.850 Grant Clinton 8.40 8.40 8.400

Floor Score: 34.200

POMMEL

Adam Tietze 6.10 6.50 6.300 Josh Rasile 5.80 6.00 5.900 Mace Patterson 6.80 6.40 6.600 Martin Fournier 8.50 8.70 8.600 Ryan Sneed 8.40 8.10 8.250 Steven Friedman 7.30 7.40 7.350

Pommel Score: 30.800

RINGS

Josh Rasile 9.20 9.30 9.250 Mace Patterson 7.30 7.00 7.150 Martin Fournier 8.40 8.40 8.400 Steven Friedman 8.90 9.00 8.950 Jeff Kelly 8.30 8.40 8.350 Grant Clinton 9.50 9.60 9.550

Rings Score: 36.150

VAULT

Tony Burtle 8.90 8.90 8.900 Martin Fournier 9.00 9.00 9.000 Steven Friedman 8.50 8.30 8.400 Ryan Sneed 9.20 9.10 9.150 Josh Rasile 9.10 9.10 9.100 Grant Clinton 9.10 9.00 9.050

Vault Score: 36.300

PARALLEL BARS

Ryan Sneed 8.50 8.40 8.450 Josh Koopman 8.00 8.00 8.000 Mace Patterson 7.80 7.70 7.750 Steven Friedman 8.70 8.60 8.650 Martin Fournier 8.30 8.30 8.300 Grant Clinton 9.10 9.10 9.100

Parallel Bars Score: 34.500

HIGH BAR

Tony Burtle 5.80 5.30 5.550 Karl Nessi 7.30 6.80 7.050 Mace Patterson 8.00 7.80 7.900 Martin Fournier 8.30 8.10 8.200 Steven Friedman 8.70 8.40 8.550 Grant Clinton 8.90 8.90 8.900

High Bar Score: 33.550

Final Team Sore: 205.500