Jan. 18, 2014
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WEST POINT, N.Y. - The No. 4 Penn State men's gymnastics team stretched its West Point Open winning streak to 15 straight after recording a 428.100 team score on Friday evening at host Army's Gross Center in West Point, N.Y.
Up against some of the top teams from around the east coast, the Nittany Lions topped Army (413.050), Navy (400.800), Springfield College (388.950) Temple (398.650) and William & Mary (416.700) on the way to a first place finish.
Penn State captured the top position in four different events including the floor exercise (74.200), still rings (73.150), vault (72.550) and parallel bars (72.500).
PSU also placed second on the pommel horse (68.800) and fourth on the high bar (66.900). Penn State's marks in the floor exercise and on the parallel bars are both season-high team scores for the Nittany Lions.
Penn State advanced 10 gymnasts to the individual finals, with at least one Nittany Lion representing the Blue and White in each event tomorrow evening.
Sophomore Trevor Howard (Columbus, Ohio), redshirt junior Nestor Rodriguez (Guaynabo, Puerto Rico), junior Matt Felleman (Medway, Mass.) and sophomore Alexis Torres (Catano, Puerto Rico) all captured two top-five finishes each.
Howard claimed the top spot in the floor exercise with a season-high score of 15.500, while also finishing third on the rings, swinging to a score of 15.000. Rodriguez secured a second-place finish on the parallel bars (14.700), while also finishing fifth on the rings (14.750).
Felleman was tabbed second on the high bar (14.400) and fifth on the vault (14.650). Torres rounded out the group with second place finish on the rings (15.100) and a third place finish in the floor exercise (15.150).
Howard was not the only Nittany Lion to earn a first-place finish, as Preston Gall registered the number one position on the parallel bars, posting a 14.800 for his first individual event title of the season.
Next up, Penn State will compete in the individual finals of the West Point Open. Competition is set to resume Saturday, Jan. 18 at 7 pm. The complete list of qualifying gymnasts is listed below.
Floor exercise: Trevor Howard, Alexis Torres, Ismael Sanabria, Jeremy Munn
Pommel horse: Preston Gall
Still rings: Alexis Torres, Trevor Howard, Nestor Rodriguez, Ingvar Jochumsson
Vault: Tristan Duverglas, Matt Felleman, Nestor Rodriguez
Parallel bars: Preston Gall, Nestor Rodriguez, Leroy Clarke,
High bar: Matt Felleman, Leroy Clarke, Trevor Howard
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