April 20, 2013
Team Finals Results | Individual Event Qualifiers | Photo Gallery 
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.-- The Penn State men's gymnastics team finished in fourth place at the team finals of the 2013 NCAA National Championships on Saturday evening inside a packed Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions recorded a team score of 436.100, highlighted by a 75.000 team score on the still rings and a 71.850 tally on the pommel horse.
Michigan claimed the team title with a final score of 443.200, followed by runner-up Oklahoma at 440.100 points and third place Stanford with 436.150. A pair of Big Ten teams rounded out the team scores, with Iowa in fifth (426.450) and defending champion Illinois in sixth (422.550).
Six Nittany Lions qualified for eight routines at individual event championships that will be held tomorrow afternoon. The fourth and final session of the championships is set to start at 2 p.m. inside of Rec Hall.
Senior Felix Aronovich (Kiryat Bialik, Israel) brought home his third All-America status, and second career all-around All-American honor, after posting a score of 86.900 to grab a fourth place finish on Saturday. His best performances came on the still rings and parallel bars, both of which were awarded marks of 14.700.
Freshman Trevor Howard (Columbus, Ohio) continued his stellar first year as a Nittany Lion by posting scores of 15.000 or better on three of his four events. The freshman scored a career-high 15.450 on the floor exercise, which was the top score on the event. Howard also led the Blue and White on the parallel bars with a score of 14.950 and followed that with a tally of 15.050 to tie for fifth on the vault. He is the only Nittany Lion to qualify for three individual event finals.
Senior captain Parker Raque (Louisville, Ky.) turned out his third best still rings performance of the season at 15.450, which led the way for the Nittany Lions and put him in fourth place on the event. Scott Rosenthal (Clearfield, Pa.) ended the day tied for eighth place on rings, and will join Raque in the event finals tomorrow.
Adrian Evans (Boulder, Colo.) finished tied for fourth place on the pommel horse. The junior put up a mark of 14.850, and will represent Penn State in tomorrow's individual championships.
Sophomore Matthew Felleman (Medway, Mass.) led the Nittany Lions on the high bar, with a score of 15.100. The mark put him in second place on the day, and will send him to the event finals tomorrow along with Aronovich, who finished seventh overall at 14.600.
Tomorrow's event finals will feature the following Nittany Lions;
Floor Exercise - Trevor Howard
Pommel Horse - Adrian Evans
Still Rings - Parker Raque, Scott Rosenthal
Vault - Trevor Howard
Parallel Bars - Trevor Howard
High Bar - Matthew Felleman, Felix Aronovich
The individual event finals will take place tomorrow in Rec Hall with action set to begin at 2 p.m. Full 2013 National Championship coverage can be found by clicking here.
--NITTANY LIONS--