March 18, 2013
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- A record breaking award for Trevor Howard followed his impressive performance that helped the top-ranked Penn State men's gymnastics to a victory over No. 2 Michigan. The rookie claimed his seventh Big Ten Freshman of the Week accolade this season, which marks the most won by any individual in conference history.
Howard claimed the individual title on the vault for the third time this season when he boasted a career- and team-best score of 15.400 on the event. He also was a major part of the team being able to win their meet vs. No. 2 Michigan by finishing second on the parallel bars at 14.900 and seventh on the still rings with a mark of 14.650.
The rookie has won at least one individual title or the all-around in all six of his NCAA competitions this season. He has claimed two all-around crowns, won the floor exercise once and topped the still rings, vault and parallel bars three times each. His 12 titles are the most on the team in 2013.
Howard has now collected the Big Ten Freshman of the Week award seven times during his first season on campus to set a new Big Ten record, moving past Illinois' C.J. Maestas who won six awards during the 2012 campaign. He is the fifth Nittany Lion to earn the acknowledgment on multiple occasions and sixth PSU gymnast overall to win conference's top freshman award, both are tops for any Big Ten program. It is the 17th Big Ten's Freshman of the Week award for Penn State as a program, the most distinctions by one program since the honor was installed by the conference during the 2010 season.
The Nittany Lions will travel to Minneapolis to take on the University of Minnesota inside the Sports Pavilion starting at 6 p.m. Eastern time. The meet will be aired on the Big Ten Network on Sunday, March 24 at 4 p.m. Eastern.
--NITTANY LIONS--