LINCOLN, Neb. – The No. 6 Fighting Illini men's gymnastics team fought hard and scored a season-high 405.650, but ultimately fell to No. 3 Nebraska, who scored 408.050 in the meet.

Four Illini achieved event titles on the evening, with senior Ian Skirkey taking the pommel horse with a career-high 15.300, the second-highest pommel horse score in the NCAA this season. Junior Ashton Anaya grabbed the event title on rings (14.250) while graduate student David Pochinka and senior Michael Fletcher shared the parallel bars event title with a score of 14.000.

"We were on the verge of an epic night, but we just had a few too many falls. We gave this one away. This was still an exciting night because I think the team is starting to really see their full potential and we're going to need to hit that next weekend against Michigan" head coach Justin Spring said.

The Fighting Illini lead the meet through the first five rotations before Nebraska scored a 71.550 on vault as opposed to the Illini's 67.00 on rings to ultimately take home the conference win. Illinois outscored the Huskers on pommel horse, vault, and parallel bars. 

HOW IT HAPPENED

MEET NOTES

• Illinois set new season high team scores on pommel horse (67.800), still rings (67.000), vault (72.000), parallel bars (67.100) and overall team score (405.650). 
• Senior Ian Skirkey set a new career-high 15.300 on pommel horse en route to the individual event title. His score is the second-highest on the pommel horse in the NCAA this season behind Khoi Young of Stanford who scored a 15.342 earlier this season.
• Junior Ashton Anaya set a new career-high score on still rings (14.250) en route to his second career event title on the event.
• Senior Michael Fletcher and graduate student David Pochinka earned a share of the parallel bars event title, both scoring 14.000 on the event.
• Junior Connor McCool set a career-high on vault with his 14.600 score.
• Senior Hamish Carter set season-highs on vault (14.450) and floor exercise (14.050).
• Sophomore Will Hauke established career-high marks on parallel bars (13.600) and high bar (13.400).
• Graduate student Jordan Kovach set season-highs on floor (13.050), parallel bars (13.600), and still rings (13.550).
• Graduate student David Pochinka set a new career-high on pommel horse (14.100). 

UP NEXT

Illinois returns to Huff Hall for Senior Day next Sunday, March 13 for a 2:30 p.m. CT meet start live on the Big Ten Network. 

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