Chambana Sun

The Illinois men's gymnastics team, ranked fourth nationally, is set to conclude its regular season against sixth-ranked Penn State on Saturday, March 23, at 3 p.m. in University Park, Pennsylvania. A victory would secure the Illini at least a share of the Big Ten regular-season title for the first time in the program's history.

Historically, Illinois holds a 46-61 record against Penn State but has emerged victorious in their last two encounters. The Illini defeated the Nittany Lions with scores of 408.800-401.750 in 2023 and 397.250-396.550 in 2022. Their most recent appearance at Rec Hall was during the 2023 NCAA Championships, where they placed third with a score of 415.590.

Penn State recently faced a loss to third-ranked Michigan, despite achieving a season-high score of 413.600 and setting team highs on floor (68.600), rings (71.200), and vault (72.100). Junior Josh Karnes participated in the all-around competition for the first time this season, scoring 81.200 and achieving personal bests on floor (14.500) and rings (14.150).

Illinois remains fourth in the Road to Nationals rankings following their win over seventh-ranked Ohio State with a score of 413.200-406.350 last Saturday.

Several Illinois athletes are nationally ranked across various events: Connor McCool is second on floor; Tate Costa is fifteenth on floor; Brandon Dang leads on pommel horse; Will Hauke is twelfth on pommel horse; Ashton Anaya ranks third on still rings; Amari Sewell tops vault; Garrett Schooley is fourteenth on vault; Michael Fletcher ranks eighteenth on vault; Hauke is eighth on parallel bars; Fletcher is fourteenth on parallel bars; Ryan Vanichtheeranont stands seventh on high bar; Logan Myers ranks twelfth on high bar; Costa is sixteenth on high bar and tied for third in all-around.