March 24, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After recording the nation's top score last week, the No. 2 Penn State men's gymnastics team outdid itself with an even better encore performance on Saturday, posting a 360.600 to defeat No. 10 Temple (342.200) on Senior Night at Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions' team total was also a program record, edging out a 360.550 scored on February 24, 2008 at Ohio State.
For the second consecutive week and for the third time this season, Penn State broke the program record in the pommel horse, scoring a 60.300. The Lions also established season highs in the parallel bars (59.600) and the high bar (59.700).
In the victory, Penn State won all six events as a team and individually, with five different Nittany Lions claiming titles. Junior Felix Aronovich (Kiryat Bialik, Israel), the reigning Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, placed first in the parallel bars (15.400) and high bar (15.300), tying or setting career highs in both, en route to winning the all-around title unopposed (89.100).
Other Penn State event winners were junior Parker Raque (Louisville, Ky.) (floor exercise), freshman Craig Hernandez (Libertyville, Ill.) (pommel horse), junior Scott Rosenthal (Clearfield, Pa.) (still rings), and freshman Tristan Duverglas (West Orange, N.J.) (vault).
Hernandez continued his impressive rookie campaign, tying the nation's highest score in the pommel horse, a 15.700, to claim his fifth title in the event. For his effort, he was honored with the meet's Gene Wettstone Award. Also playing a key role in the re-setting of the PSU pommel horse record were sophomores Preston Gall (Columbus, Ohio) (15.200) and Adrian Evans (Boulder, Colo.) (14.800), who placed second and third, respectively.
Competing for their final time in venerable Rec Hall, seniors Warren Yang (Nepean, Ont.) and Miguel Pineda (Galloway, Ohio) shined. Yang placed second in the floor exercise (15.400) and in the parallel bars (15.100). Pineda also secured a runner-up finish, placing behind Rosenthal in the still rings with a score of 15.500. Yang, Pineda, and classmates Colin Hill (Sterling, Mass.) and Logan Wyman (Phoenix, Md.) were honored in a special Senior Day ceremony following the Penn State victory.
Sophomore Nestor Rodriguez (Guaynabo, P.R.) had the best night of his young career, placing second in the high bar (15.000) and third in the still rings (15.200). Scores registered by Rodriguez in each event were career highs.
Rosenthal further solidified his standing as the nation's No. 1 still rings competitor, scoring above the 16.000 plateau for the fifth time this season (16.100) in capturing his seventh title in the event. Raque, ranked No. 3 nationally in the floor exercise, has finished in the top two in the event in every meet this year, also securing seven titles.
Penn State will return to action in two weeks when it travels to Iowa City, Iowa to seek their third conference title at the 2012 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships. The annual competition will take place from April 6-7 at Carver-Hawkeye Arena on the host campus of the University of Iowa. 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 8 p.m. ET and will be broadcast live by the Big Ten Network.