March 26, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State junior Felix Aronovich (Kiryat Bialik, Israel) and freshman Craig Hernandez (Libertyville, Ill.) have been recognized with Big Ten weekly gymnastics honors for their standout performances in the No. 2 Nittany Lions' historic 360.600-342.200 victory over No. 10 Temple last weekend. Aronovich was named Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Week while Hernandez earned Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolades.
For Aronovich, the conference award is the fifth of his career, third of 2012, and second consecutive. He shares the honor with fellow Ukrainian-born gymnast Anton Gryshayev of Iowa. Hernandez received freshman of the week recognition for the second time this season.
Aronovich and Hernandez made key contributions as Penn State posted the nation's highest team score for the second consecutive week and broke the previous FIG scoring-era program record of 360.550, established by the 2008 Nittany Lions. The pair also anchored a PSU pommel horse line-up that set a new program record in the event for the second time this season.
Aronovich recorded four top four finishes, including first place showings in the parallel bars and high bar, en route to winning the all-around title. The junior, who qualified for the 2012 Olympics for his native Israel in January, tied a career high in the parallel bars, scoring a 15.400, and set another in the high bar, earning a 15.300. Both scores were team bests for the 2012 season. Aronovich's totaled a 89.100 in the all-around, marking the second straight week in which surpassed the 89.000 barrier.
Hernandez continued his brilliant freshman season in Penn State's win over Temple, breaking the program pommel horse record for the second time this year. Hernandez earned a 15.700, the second highest score in the nation this season, to capture his fifth title of 2012 in the event. The former three-time Junior Olympic pommel horse national champion owns Penn State's top three scores in the event this season.
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.