March 18, 2010
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The programs that have captured eight of the past 10 national championships will collide on Saturday evening at Rec Hall when the No. 8 Penn State men's gymnastics team takes on powerhouse No. 2 Oklahoma in a Senior Night clash scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. For seniors Matt Greenfield (Villanova, Pa.), Allen Harris (Lancaster, Pa.), Noam Shaham (Kfar Saba, Israel), and Nick Virbitsky (Harrisburg, Pa.), it will be their final home appearance in a Nittany Lion uniform. The foursome will be honored in a special ceremony following the meet.
The meet will also feature the No. 15 Nittany Lion women's gymnastics squad taking on No. 12 Nebraska.
In the regular season finale versus the Sooners, Penn State will look to make improvements, end the regular season on a high note, and gain momentum as the postseason looms. Last weekend, the Nittany Lions dropped their third consecutive road dual meet, suffering a 354.600-344.300 setback to then-No. 9 California in Berkeley. The Golden Bears' team score was over five points greater than their previous season high and just under nine points better than their three score average.
Penn State won the floor exercise with a season-high score of 60.250 but struggled on the parallel bars, posting a season-low score of 53.550, and had below average totals in the other four events. Individually, freshman Nick Grant (Butler, Pa.) led the Lions by capturing titles in the floor exercise, winning with a season best score of 15.400, and the vault, tying for the top spot by equalizing his season high mark of 15.850. Fellow freshman Felix Aronovich (Kiryat Bialik, Israel) claimed first place in the still rings (14.650) and finished second in the pommel horse (14.800).
Penn State, which has a three-score average of 349.033, is nationally ranked in the top nine in each event as a team. Its highest team event ranking comes in the floor exercise and still rings, in which it ranks fifth. Individually, eight different Nittany Lions are ranked in the top 20 in six events, led by Nick Virbitsky, who is tied for fifth in the floor exercise with a 15.350 three score average.
A traditional powerhouse program boasting eight national championships, Oklahoma is once again considered to be one of the favorites to claim the NCAA title in 2010. The Sooners have gotten the best of their Big Ten opponents this season, garnering wins over Iowa (349.500-340.950), Michigan (354.450-354.000), Minnesota (359.450-344.850), and Ohio State (359.250-354.900), with three of the four victories coming on the road. Oklahoma's lone loss came on March 7, a 361.650-360.300 setback to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) rival Stanford in a tri-meet in Lincoln that also featured Nebraska. In two weeks, OU will look to capture its fifth consecutive MPSF crown and 10th overall when it hosts the conference championships in Norman.
Possessing a three score average of 359.667 and a season high score of 360.300, Oklahoma is nationally ranked in the top four in every event, including No. 1 in the floor exercise and No. 2 in the vault. Individually, junior Steven Legendre, a five-time national champion and the reigning NCAA all-around title-winner, is the nation's top floor exercise competitor and all-arounder and is also highly ranked in the vault (6th), the parallel bars (6th), and high bar (16th). Freshman Jake Dalton has made an immediate impact on the Sooners, earning No. 2 rankings in the floor exercise and vault and the No. 3 position in the all-around. Junior Bobby Shortle, redshirt junior and Pennsylvania native Ian Jackson, freshman Alex Naddour, and senior Corey English have also played key roles in Oklahoma's success this season.
Penn State possesses a 2-12 record in all-time regular season meetings with Oklahoma. A year ago, in Norman, Okla., the Nittany Lions recorded season high scores in four of six events on their way to their top team score of the year, a 356.300. However, it was not enough as the defending national champion Sooners used the motivation of Senior Night and their McCasland Fieldhouse home gym advantage to the fullest, posting an astronomical 366.850. Penn State last defeated the Sooners in 2000, a narrow 230.350-230.100 victory, as a prelude to head coach Randy Jepson's first national title.
Fans can follow all of the action of the Penn State-Oklahoma dual on the Internet with live scoring updates or with a live video webcast from Rec Hall. Find links on the official website of Nittany Lion athletics, www.GoPSUsports.com.
The Nittany Lions will return to action in two weeks when they travel to Columbus, Ohio to seek their third conference title at the 2010 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships. The annual competition will take place from April 2-3 at St. John Arena on the host campus of The Ohio State University. On Friday, the team and all-around champions will be crowned while Saturday's action will feature the individual event finals. Both nights of competition are scheduled to begin at 7 p.m and will be broadcast live by the Big Ten Network.