Feb. 7, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 7, 2013-- As the Penn State contingent made its way around the floor at the Las Vegas Sports Center they made their selves at home on the apparatuses, almost as if it were their home gym during the Winter Cup. The Nittany Lions were the only organization to place three athletes in the top 15 of the all around in session one, while Craig Hernandez (Libertyville, Ill.), Trevor Howard (Columbus, Ohio) and Parker Raque (Louisville, Ky.) all claimed individual titles during the first of two session.
Sophomore Matthew Felleman (Medway, Mass.) led the way for the Blue and White with a fifth place showing in session one in the all around with a total score of 82.050. He wasn't able to claim an individual title, but he claimed four, top-10 finishes and only finished out of the top-15 in one event. Felleman placed fourth on the vault and the high bar, scoring 15.000 and 14.500, respectively, and notched a seventh place showing on the parallel bars with a mark of 14.000. He also finished ninth on the pommel horse (13.250), 12th on the still rings (12.850) and 23rd on the floor exercise (12.900).
Raque pushed his name into the top-10 of the all around by boasting four top-15 finishes, including the individual title on the still rings with a score of 14.000, to finish the all around with a total of 80.850. The senior also placed fourth on floor at 14.700, 10th on vault with a mark of 14.650 and was 12th on high bar at 13.650. His parallel bar score of 13.650 placed him 24th and he racked up a score of 11.500 on the pommel horse to finish 25th.
The reigning College Gymnastics Association University Gymnast of the Week, Howard claimed the individual session title on the floor and accumulated a score of 79.850 to hold the 11th spot on the session one all around lost. The freshman boasted the top score of 14.750 on the floor exercise, tied for third on parallel bars at 14.400, was seventh on vault at 14.750 and finished 11th with a score of 12.900 on the still rings.
Hernandez claimed the final session title for the Nittany Lions on his steadiest event, where the NCAA's top pommel competitor scored the top session score of 14.450. The sophomore also placed 20th on the floor exercise with a tally of 13.150.
Mackenzie Dow (Cranford, N.J.) had a trio of top-15 showings at the event, tying fourth on the pommel horse (13.700), ninth on the parallel bars (13.700) and 11th in the floor exercise (14.300). Adrian Evans (Boulder, Colo.) also represented the Nittany Lions well, tying for fourth on the pommel horse (13.700) and placing 17th on the vault (12.400).
At the conclusion of the second session the top 42 gymnasts will advance to the finals, with seven roster spots on the U.S. Senior National Team on the line. The seven spots will be filled by the top two ranked all-around gymnasts who are not already on the senior national team, two based on the National Team Points System, two selected by the Men's Program Committee and one selected by the national team coordinator.
The Winter Cup continues at 7:15 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 9 inside the Las Vegas Sports Center. The next team competition for the No. 1 ranked Nittany Lions will come on Saturday, Feb. 16 at Temple.
--NITTANY LIONS--