CHAMPAIGN – As a 10-year-old growing up in Aurora, Ontario, Travis Romagnoli followed his older brothers, Shawn and Neil, into gymnastics.

Kim Berres won the balance beam (9.675), finished second in the vault (9.625) and was third in the floor exercise (9.825) to lead the Illinois women's gymnastics team past Michigan State and Northern Illinois in its home opener Saturday at Huff Hall.

The Illini edged the Spartans 191.8-191.75.

Travis Romagnoli and Jon Corbitt placed second and third, respectively, on the high bar with scores of 9.75 and 9.70 to lead Illinois' men's gymnastics team to a second-place finish at Saturday's Windy City Invitational in Chicago.

Romagnoli was second on the parallel bars (9.65) and tied for third in all-around (56.0).

Freshman Gina Wiechmann won the all-around competition Sunday afternoon, leading the Illinois women's gymnastics team to a win in its season opener at Bowling Green, Ohio.

The Illinois women's gymnastics team on Monday announced the signing of three recruits for 1997-98.

   MINNEAPOLIS  Riding strong performances from freshmen Travis Romagnoli and Yuval Ayalon, the University of Illinois men''s gymnastics team placed fifth Saturday at the Big Ten Conference meet.

Travis Romagnoli has posted scores such as 9.90 on the high bar and two 9.65s on parallel bars this season.

That's not bad for someone who admits he had to overcome a fear of both events early in his gymnastics career.

University of Illinois men's gymnast Jon Corbitt was named to the 1996-97 GTE/CoSIDA Academic All-District V team announced Monday.Corbitt earned academic All-Big Ten honors a year ago and is a two-time winner of the George Huff Award for excellence in academics and athletics.