UIC tallied a season high 377.250 at the ECAC Championships Saturday afternoon in Annapolis, Md.  The Flames finished in fifth place, behind host Navy (405.550), William & Mary, Army, and Springfield.  Sam Montague had the best all-around performance of his career and had two top-six finishes.  Asad Jooma placed fifth in the vault.  The Flames had a tremendous top-to-bottom performance on vault, and saw several season highs on the high bar.

"It was definitely a great day to set the tone for this young team," head coach Charley Nelson said.  "Sam looked great and took home some all-around hardware.  We'll also carry two important achievements with us after this last team competition of the season: a 100% hit rate on pommel horse and every dismount on high bar was a stick.

'In this building year, there is a lot to look forward to."

Rotation 1 – Pommel Horse

• Victor Bello led off the meet for the Flames, and landed a career high 12.450.
• Satchel Hudson scored 12.200, and Michael Peluso followed with a 12.350.
• Overall, scores were down on the horse, but the Flames regrouped and posted higher team scores on the remaining apparatuses.

Rotation 2 – Rings

• Wes Diveney scored 13.050 and took seventh place overall.
• Liam Maddon made his ECAC debut and scored 12.200.
• Satchel Hudson scored 12.850, good for a top-15 finsh.
• Michael Peluso also broke 12 points on rings.

Rotation 3 – Vault

• Asad Jooma tied his career high with a 14.350, thanks to a stuck-landing bonus of 0.3.  He tied for fifth in the conference.
• "Asad's vault was awesome.  He's now completing a 2.5 twisting vault which will put him in contention for the NCAA Finals," Nelson said.
• Victor Bello scored 13.900, ahead of Hudson's 13.750 and Sam Montague's 13.550.  The latter two each set a career high.
• Sam Forbes competed on vault for the first time in his career and scored 12.800.  He was one of four Flames to earn a stick bonus, the most of any team in the conference.

Rotation 4 – Parallel Bars

• Freshmen Colin Schwartz and Taylor Styer each set season highs, scoring 12.750 and 11.900 respectively.  Schwartz' score was good for a tie for 15^th place.
• Montague and Jooma each scored 12.300.
• Hudson also broke the 12 point mark with a 12.100.

Rotation 5 – High Bar

• Four Flames set season highs, most by a significant margin over their previous best score.
• Montague led the way with a 13.050, placing 12^th.  It was a full point more than his top score to date.
• Colby Lawson was close behind with a 12.950, surpassing his season high by 0.800.  He also finished in the top 15.
• Peluso, who had the team's top high bar score of the regular season, topped it with a 12.750.
• James Marden set a season high with a 12.600.

Rotation 6 – Floor

• Montague nailed his routine, scoring a season high 13.850 and taking fourth place.
• Jooma posted a 12.550, and Hudson turned in a 12.450.
• Matthew Whittington scored 11.900 in his lone event of the meet.

All-Around

• All three Flames who completed the all-around set season highs.
• Montague led the way with a 75.400 and took sixth place.
• Hudson's total of 74.950 was good for seventh.
• Jooma placed eighth with a score of 72.900.

Up Next

• Final qualifying scores for all teams and individuals will be calculated.  Those scores will determine who competes at the NCAA National Championships.
• The championship meet will take place April 20-21 at UIC Pavilion.