CHICAGO — Between event rotations, an unexpected “Go!” emanates from the huddle of Michigan gymnasts. From across the gym, a group of Wolverine fans shout, “Blue!” in response – trying to excite both the athletes and spectators alike. It was hard to believe that the match was 250 miles away from Ann Arbor.

On Saturday night, the Michigan men’s gymnastics team took second place at the Windy City Invitational, ahead of Big Ten opponents No. 7 Ohio State, No. 8 Minnesota and No. 10 Iowa, and also No. 11 Illinois-Chicago.

Michigan was looking to win back-to-back Windy City Invitational titles, but they fell just short of No. 5 Illinois. The fourth-ranked Wolverines scored 351.350 points, just two points fewer than the Fighting Illini. Ohio State claimed third place with a score of 347.150.

Michigan and Ohio State battled for first place throughout the invitational, with the Wolverines holding the lead going into the final round. But two Michigan falls on dismount from the still rings allowed Illinois to slip past the Wolverines.

“We certainly didn’t deserve to win,” Michigan coach Kurt Golder said. “We missed a lot of routines and there were a lot of areas where we were very sloppy. We can be a very good team, but we have a long way to go and we’ve got to work a little bit harder.”

Though the Wolverines didn't attain their first-place expectations, several individuals had strong performances. Redshirt sophomore Devan Cote and junior Ian Makowske both set career highs on the high bar with scores of 14.65 and 14.2, respectively.

Redshirt senior Ryan McCarthy also set a career high in both of his events. McCarthy placed second in the parallel bars event, tallying a 14.6, and also earned a 14.95 for his high bar routine, which he confidently ended by sticking a difficult full twisting double layout dismount.

“Usually at the beginning of the year, the goal is to just hit your set,” McCarthy said. “First you hit, and then you work on perfecting your routine. My goal was pretty much to hit tonight, so I was pretty happy with how I did.”

Golder was more than satisfied with McCarthy's performance.

“Ryan did a great job tonight,” Golder said. “If everyone did what Ryan did tonight, we would have won by a huge margin.”

Junior Chris Cameron, who took first place all-around at the invitational last year, also bolstered the Wolverines' final score. Cameron competed in all six events and had four top-five finishes to lead Michigan. He also earned fifth place in the all-around with a score of 85.100.

Golder, Cameron, and the rest of the Wolverines all agree that, despite a sloppy start, the team should will do well this season.

“We have kind of gotten a little soft, so we’re going to regain that hunger that we had and really attack it in the gym,” Cameron said. “Then we can be 6-for-6, 36 routines, all of them hits. That’s the goal.”