March 15, 2015
Final Results
LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 5 Penn State men's gymnastics team posted a second-place finish in its regular season finale Saturday against No. 9 Iowa, No. 6 Minnesota and No. 11 Nebraska inside the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Minnesota finished first with an overall score of 434.000 followed by Penn State (432.100), Iowa (429.250) and host Nebraska (426.050).
The Nittany Lions won three individual events and captured two team titles. In the all-around, Penn State posted the top two scores as Alexis Torres (Catano, Puerto Rico) recorded the highest score of the day, 89.500, followed by senior Matthew Felleman (Medway, Mass.), who posted a career-best score of 86.400 in his first all-around competition of the year.
Sophomore Dominic DiFulvio (Marietta, N.Y.) led the Nittany Lions in the floor exercise as he tied his season-best score of 15.400 to capture his first floor exercise title of the season. At the West Point Open Team Finals in early January, DiFulvio finished first in the floor exercise with his score of 15.400. Also in the floor exercise, Felleman tied for fourth with his score of 15.000.
Torres went onto capture his fifth still rings title of the 2015 season Sunday. Torres claimed the event title with his score of 15.900. He now has recorded scores of 15.900 or better three times this year. His mark ties him for ninth all-time in the Penn State record books. Along with Torres, sophomore Leroy Clarke, Jr. (Maplewood, N.J.) and Felleman also posted top-10 finishes in the still rings. Clarke, Jr., finished fifth with a score of 14.900 and Felleman tied for seventh with his season-best score of14.800.
Four Nittany Lions posted top-10 scores in the high bar event. Along with capturing the still rings title, Torres placed first in the high bar with his career-best score of 15.200. Clarke, Jr., placed eighth (14.200), freshmen Thad Lawson (Chesapeake, Va.) and Quest Hayden (Harrisburg, Pa.) tied for ninth with their career-best scores of 14.150. As a team, the Nittany Lions recorded a season-best score of 71.550 to finish first in the high bar.
In the pommel horse, Penn State recorded a pair of top-10 finishes by Torres and freshman Colin Coates (Emmaus, Pa.). Torres tallied a score of 14.200 (fifth) and Coates finished seventh with his score of 14.150. Despite a pair of top-10 finishes in the pommel horse, the Nittany Lions recorded a season-low team score of 68.700 in the pommel horse.
Keeping pace with the afternoon, the Nittany Lions were led in the vault and parallel bars by Torres and Felleman. Torres finished fifth with his score of 15.000 and Felleman tied for sixth with a season-best score of 14.800. In the parallel bars, Torres placed fourth (14.800) and Felleman finished ninth (14.450). The Nittany Lions' team score of 72.000 in parallel bars was the top team mark Sunday.
In all, Torres posted five top five finishes, including two titles and Felleman recorded four top-10 finishes.
Overall as a team, the Nittany Lions recorded scores of 73.650 (floor exercise), 68.700 (pommel horse), 72.950 (still rings), 73.250 (vault), 72.000 (parallel bars) and 71.550 (high bar).
The Big Ten Championships are up next for the Nittany Lions in two weeks. The 2015 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships are held March 27-28 inside Rec Hall.
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