Chambana Sun

No. 4 Illinois is set to host No. 7 Ohio State in a men's gymnastics meet at Huff Hall on March 16 at 2 p.m. This event marks the final home meet of the regular season for Illinois, coinciding with Senior Day.

Illinois has a historical edge over Ohio State, boasting a record of 114-83-2 against them. The two teams last faced off in a dual meet where Illinois narrowly lost with scores of 401.000 to Ohio State's 399.200 in Columbus, Ohio. However, Illinois claimed victory over Ohio State at the 2023 Big Ten Championships with a score of 409.400 to 405.50.

Ohio State enters this matchup after achieving its highest team score of the season by defeating No. 5 Michigan, scoring 412.150 against Michigan's 407.400 in Columbus. During that meet, several Buckeyes achieved career highs: Kameron Nelson scored a 14.800 on floor and a 15.050 on vault; Kristian Grahovski earned a score of 14.450 on pommel horse; and Tyler Rockwood scored a 14.400 on parallel bars.

The Illini recently dropped two spots to No.4 in the Road to Nationals rankings following their loss to Nebraska (406.050), who are now ranked third (416.550). Despite this setback, Illinois has athletes highly ranked nationally across various events: Connor McCool ranks second on floor, Tate Costa is thirteenth on floor, Brandon Dang leads on pommel horse while Will Hauke is ninth, Ashton Anaya ranks third on still rings, Amari Sewell fourth on vault followed by Garrett Schooley and Michael Fletcher ranking thirteenth and fifteenth respectively; Hauke also ranks seventh on parallel bars alongside Fletcher who is ninth; Ryan Vanichtheeranont and Logan Myers share eighth place on high bar while Costa holds fifth place in all-around competition.