March 11, 2011
SAN JUAN, P.R. - Despite being forced to compete with a line-up depleted by sickness, the Penn State men's gymnastics team pulled out a 342.500-340.550 victory over the Puerto Rico National Team in a meet held in San Juan on Friday evening. The Nittany Lions depart the Caribbean island nation with their undefeated 2011 record intact, as they head into the final week of the regular season.
Even though it scored below their season average in four events, Penn State, as a team, won three events - still rings, parallel bars, and high bar. Redshirt junior Warren Yang (Nepean, Ont.), junior Miguel Pineda (Galloway, Ohio), and sophomore Felix Aronovich (Kiryat Bialik, Israel) captured at least a share of an individual event title to lead the Lions.
Yang and Aronovich tied for first in the parallel bars for the second time in three weeks, scoring a 14.500. Pineda took the spot in the still rings with a 15.000, garnering his third title in the event this season.
Freshman Wasef Burbar (Arlington Heights, Ill.) was stellar on the high bar for the second consecutive week, topping his personal best score that he set last week by earning a team season best 15.150. Burbar's score ranks him fourth in the Penn State record book (since FIG scoring was implemented in 2008), tying 2010 graduate Matt Greenfield.
Freshman Preston Gall (Columbus, Ohio) led Penn State on the pommel horse, tying his season best score (14.600) to place second.
Returning to compete in his native country, freshman Nestor Rodriguez (Guaynabo, P.R.) contributed standout performances in the parallel bars and high bar, placing third in each event with career high scores.
Senior team captain Matt Albrecht (Guelph, Ont.) anchored the Penn State line-up in five of six events, earning top five finishes in the floor exercise, vault, and high bar.
The Nittany Lions were competing in their first international dual since 2005 when they hosted a team of Japanese College all-stars in Rec Hall.
Next Saturday, Penn State will conclude the regular season and finish out a grueling three-week long road swing that will see them log over a total of 7,000 travel miles when it faces host No. 2 Oklahoma and No. 4 Illinois in Norman. The tri-meet is scheduled for an 8 p.m. ET start at the Sooners' McCasland Field House. The Nittany Lions have dropped dual meets to Oklahoma in each of the last three seasons but posted a season high team score of 356.300 in their previous visit to Norman in 2009. Penn State is looking for its second win of the year versus Illinois after defeating the Illini in Champaign, 352.100-351.000, on Feb. 19.
FLOOR EXERCISE
Matt Albrecht 14.300
Felix Aronovich 14.050
Warren Yang 13.900
Wasef Burbar 13.400
Matt Chelberg 13.100
Miguel Pineda 13.100
TOTAL: 55.650
POMMEL HORSE
Preston Gall 14.600 (2)
Miguel Pineda 13.850
Adrian Evans 13.650
Felix Aronovich 13.550
Matt Albrecht 13.000
Francisco Vazquez 10.900
TOTAL: 55.650
STILL RINGS
Miguel Pineda 15.000 (1)
Nestor Rodriguez 14.350
Logan Wyman 13.650
Matt Chelberg 13.550
Parker Raque 13.350
Nihir Kothari 13.250
TOTAL: 56.550
VAULT
Matt Albrecht 15.100
Felix Aronovich 15.050
Mackenzie Dow 14.950
Parker Raque 14.600
Warren Yang 14.600
Matt Chelberg 14.100
TOTAL: 59.700
PARALLEL BARS
Felix Aronovich 14.500 (1T)
Warren Yang 14.500 (1T)
Nestor Rodriguez 14.200 (3)
Matt Albrecht 14.050
Miguel Pineda 13.950
Mackenzie Dow 13.850
TOTAL: 57.250
HIGH BAR
Wasef Burbar 15.150 (2)
Nestor Rodriguez 14.700 (3)
Matt Albrecht 13.900
Warren Yang 13.950
Felix Aronovich 13.850
Mackenzie Dow 13.850
TOTAL: 57.700