April 9, 2005

West Point, N.Y.- Senior Neil Faustino capped off his outstanding collegiate gymnastics career on Friday night at the final individual event preliminaries of the 2005 NCAA Men's Gymnastics Championships.

Faustino scored a 9.225 on vault, tying for 19th overall.

The Stockton, California native finishes his career as one of the greatest gymnasts in UIC history. Faustino earned All-America honors in 2004 on vault, becoming only the fifth UIC gymnast in the school's Division I history to become an All-American. He also earned the distinction of being the school's first-ever All-American and Academic All-American.

Faustino is a two-time Eastern College Athletic Conference vault champion and holds three UIC records under current Federation Internationale de Gymnastique (FIG) scoring rules.

Junior Eric Novick finished up his 2005 campaign on still rings, turning in an 8.825.

Novick had a fantastic season, culminating in his second consecutive Eastern College Athletic Conference all-around title and his two-day run at the NCAA meet.

In team competition, Oklahoma captured its third title in the last four seasons, while in all-around action Penn State's Luis Vargas earned the NCAA title.