Feb. 26, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Fourth-ranked Penn State added another strong performance to its impressive series of showings in 2011, winning all six events and recording a season high team total for the sixth time in seven meets en route to a 353.500-342.500 victory over No. 10 Ohio State on Saturday afternoon at Rec Hall. The dual meet win on Senior Day was PSU's third of the season over a Big Ten opponent and kept the Nittany Lions' undefeated on the year.
The conference competition will be broadcast by the Big Ten Network on a tape delay basis, with the airing set for Sat., March 5 at 3 p.m
Penn State won five of six events individually and, as a team, set a season high in the still rings for the seventh consecutive week (60.700) and just missed establishing a season best in the parallel bars, falling .2 shy (58.400). Redshirt junior Warren Yang (Nepean, Ont.) shined in the Nittany Lions' final home performance of the season, capturing at least a share of titles in the floor exercise (15.200), parallel bars (15.000), and high bar (14.400).
Sophomore Scott Rosenthal (Clearfield, Pa.) tied teammate Miguel Pineda (Galloway, Ohio) for the top spot in the still rings, posting a 15.500 to secure at least a share of his seventh title in the event this year. For Pineda, the score tied a career high. The duo's head-to-head battle with Ohio State's Brandon Wynn, the nation's No. 1 rings performer, never materialized though, as the 2010 NCAA champion was scratched from the line-up after suffering an injury while competing in the vault.
Sophomore Felix Aronovich (Kiryat Bialik, Israel) won the all-around unopposed, compiling a career high total score of 86.500. He shared the parallel bars title with Yang and placed third in the high bar (14.200).
Sophomores Parker Raque (Louisville, Ky.) (15.000) and Matt Chelberg (Athens, Ohio) (14.500) helped Penn State claim a top three sweep in the floor exercise, finishing second and third, respectively. Chelberg also placed third in the vault (15.500), tying two Ohio State competitors.
Redshirt freshman Francisco Vazquez (San Juan, P.R.) continued to make important contributions, sharing first place in the vault (15.800) and tying fellow Nittany Lion Adrian Evans (Boulder, Colo.) for second in the pommel horse (14.700). For his standout performance, the reigning Big Ten Freshman of the Week was honored with the meet's Gene Wettstone Award.
Senior team captain Matt Albrecht (Guelph, Ont.) competed in four events in his final appearance at Rec Hall, highlighted by a career high score of 14.400 in the pommel horse. He was honored in a special Senior Day ceremony following the Penn State victory.
The Nittany Lions begin a three-meet road swing to finish out the regular season next weekend when they travel to Minneapolis to take on host No. 8 Minnesota and No. 9 Iowa on Sat., March 5 (8 p.m. ET) at the Gophers' Sports Pavilion. The conference tri-meet will be broadcast by the Big Ten Network on a tape delay basis, with the airing of the competition set for Sat., March 12 at 12 p.m. Penn State defeated Minnesota, 350.150-348.250, last year in Rec Hall but fell to the Gophers in its last visit to Minneapolis in 2009, 345.850-344.500. The Lions have not faced Iowa in the regular since 2007 when they defeated the Hawkeyes in a tri-meet at Stanford.