2014 Illinois Gymnastics Exhibition: Dancing and Debuts

December is an exciting time for college gymnastics fanatics, as it’s the finally time to see teams across the country debut their new, full routines to fans for the first time in exhibitions and intrasquads.

On December 8, the University of Illinois men’s and women’s gymnastics teams held their annual Orange and Blue Exhibition, arguably the most fun gymnastics meet held in Champaign’s Huff Hall. The men and women both split up into Team Orange and Team Blue to compete in head-to-head match-ups.

The Illini don’t determine the winner of the meet using traditional gymnastics scoring. A pair of student-athletes is assigned to judge each event. At the end of both gymnasts’ routines, each student-athlete holds up either a blue flag or an orange flag, denoting who he/she thinks had a better routine. In the event of a tie, the audience cheers to determine the winner.

While gymnastics is generally one of the more serious sports in the world of athletics, collegiate gymnastics definitely brings more fun to the table, and Illinois’ Orange and Blue Exhibition was no exception.

It was a close meet, as the Blue Team won 11-9, but there were several moments and things that stuck out.

Highlights and tidbits:

Freshmen boys impress: Several Illini gymnasts competed in the orange and blue for the first time. All freshmen from both the men’s and women’s teams competed. Half of the freshmen men were victorious in their match-ups. The youngest gymnast, Brandon Ngai, 16, a pommel horse specialist, competed an impressive pommel routine to beat fellow freshman Harry McLellan. Dennis Minton prevailed on rings to defeat junior Max Mayr, and Aussie native Tyson Bull showed high-flying release moves in his win over fellow international student Tom Gibbs.

Women’s debuts and returns: On the women’s side, Jordyn Givens returned from an arm injury suffered in her final J.O. season and competed on vault. Givens competed the same vault as her matchup and fellow Texan, redshirt freshman Sarah Lyons. Both vaults were clean and simple Yurchenko layouts, but Lyons was declared the winner.

The second freshman on the women’s team, Wisconsin native Bridget Hodan, also competed one event. But unlike Givens, Hodan was victorious. Hodan’s presence and excellence on beam were exquisite. Her routine includes an aerial to back handspring and a rare and difficult, but well-executed, illusion turn. The unique combinations and skills gave her an impressive triumph over beam and bars specialist Sunny Kato.

Senior captain Gaby Nguyen also returned to competing. She has yet to compete in a non-exhibition meet and was not in the lineup for last year’s exhibition, so it was great to finally see her show off her uneven bars skills.

New versus old: A new year means a new floor routine, at least for some of the Illini women. Two of the three floor matchups pitted a new routine versus an old routine.

The ladies first competed on floor at the end of the first rotation, ending with a bang. Sophomore and Big Ten Gymnast to Watch Mary Jane Horth finally returned to floor after her Achilles injury suffered in her final J.O. season in 2013. Her dramatic and classical floor music and choreography combined with her long lines proved to be victorious against senior Kelsi Eberly, who performed the same exercise from last season. Watching Horth tumble and perform after over a year was a sight to see. It will be exciting to see her routine again if she makes lineup, which shouldn’t be a problem.

The final floor matchup was between second team All-Big Ten members Giana O’Connor and Erin Buchanan. Buchanan’s routine is the same as last year’s while O’Connor revealed her new routine for her junior season. O’Connor’s unique and dramatic music is similar in style to what she used last year, complete with distinctive choreography to match, but what was most remarkable and was the highlight of her routine was her tumbling. O’Connor’s first tumbling pass was full of combinations and connections, like a less difficult, but still impressive, Aly Raisman beginning pass.

Battle of the blondes: In the second floor matchup, junior Heather Foley and senior Jordan Naleway both revealed their new routines. Foley’s music is a remix of Danza Kuduro by Don Omar, a Latin influenced song that would probably be found in a dance club, and another piece that pumps up the crowd. Danza Kuduro definitely makes the crowd want to get up and dance while the remainder is enticing with the beat. Foley had solid tumbling and a great performance, but Naleway came away with the victory.

Naleway’s senior floor routine begins with some bluesy/jazz-sounding music and transitions into a remix. The choreography was fitting, and the tumbling gave Naleway the win. Despite being spotted on her double pike ― it looked like she didn’t need it ― her landings were good and more controlled than Foley’s.

Horth upgrades on bars: Sophomore Mary Jane Horth debuted her new uneven bars routine in a matchup against senior and beam/bar specialist Sunny Kato. Horth’s height of 5’7” gives her lovely lines on this event, but that’s not the only thing to admire. This season’s routine includes a few new skills, including a full out dismount, a Gienger and a Maloney half. Horth defeated Kato in this bars matchup in a unanimous decision, as Kato uncharacteristically fell off the low bar during her transition.

All-around potential: While most of the women only competed on one or two apparatus during the exhibition, sophomore Erin Buchanan competed on three: uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise. Fellow sophomore Suren Kanchanavaleerat was scheduled to compete on bars against Gaby Nguyen, but a lineup change was made, and Buchanan replaced her. She hit both events and even won the bars matchup.

Last season, this Big Ten Gymnast to watch competed in all of the Illini’s meets on floor and vault, where she hit 100-percent of her routines. Buchanan was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week three times, the first time for an Illini women’s gymnast. With the addition of beam and bars, Buchanan has the potential to be a great all-around competitor. There’s no way of telling if she will compete all four events this season, but it’s certainly a promising option.

Men dance it out: The most fun and crowd-pleasing part of the meet came at the end, in the final rotation, when two of the Illini men started a mini dance party.

U.S. National Team Member and NCAA All-American C.J. Maestas kicked things off at the beginning of his rings routine. Maestas sported a black puffer vest while waiting to be assisted by assistant coach Ivan Ivankov. While Boyfriend by Justin Bieber filled the Huff Hall gymnasium, Maestas began to dance and removed his vest to reveal only a pink bow tie on the upper half of his torso. Cheers instantly erupted from the fans as he showed off for the crowd. Even with the addition of dance to his routine, Maestas hit a great rings routine in typical fashion. Watch Maestas’s routine below.


Later in the final rotation, former NCAA vault champion junior Fred Hartville amused the crowd with his imitation of Giana O’Connor. Hartville performed the beginning choreography of O’Connor’s floor routine across the floor from her. It was a funny moment, evoking laughter from all of the gymnasts and the audience. Hartville was spot on with the dance and did it as well as O’Connor! Unfortunately, there is no video of this hilarious moment.

Overall, the Illini are looking good. The men look to build on their fourth place finish at NCAAs this past season while the women look to build off last season, one that was full of record breaking and historic moments.

There are, of course, a few things that need to improve, but there’s still some time to work on those, and both programs look to progress throughout the season. Illinois may miss the graduated seniors from last season, especially Amber See, Liz McNabb and Sarah Fiedler on the women’s side, but there appears to be no problem filling their spots with up and coming stars in Buchanan and Horth who were both named Big Ten Gymnasts to Watch. Most of the women are veterans and have experienced competition on the big stage before, so they have a multitude of experience to bring and help them be even better than they were last year.

The women kick off their season at Central Michigan on January 11 while the men begin in Chicago at UIC on January 9. View full highlights from both the Illini men and women below.





All pictures belong to me and are watermarked, so please do not take them. Thank you.

Written by: Amanda