March 2, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Anita Nham, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 4 men's gymnastics team finished their final home meet of the regular season with a 440.800-435.750 win over No. 7 Iowa on Friday evening on Senior Night.
"It's bittersweet," said senior Tristan Duverglas. "I knew this day would come, but you can't really prepare for it, but it definitely means a lot to me, just being my last regular meet in Rec Hall. I'm just glad we got to see the crowd, something to really end it on a big note."
The Nittany Lions won five out of the six events and earned four individual titles. Junior Alexis Torres placed first in all around and still rings, freshman Thad Lawson finished first in floor exercise with a score of 15.700 and senior Craig Hernandez secured the title for pommel horse with a score of 15.250. Freshman Quest Hayden also tied for first with Iowa on vault.
"We had five misses tonight and our goal was a 100 percent, so we were 85 percent," said head coach Randy Jepson. "We also wanted to hit a lot more sticks than five. We wanted to get a minimum of 10, so we didn't do what we wanted to do. Pommel horse was a little bit of a problem; we had two breaks there. We're just going to have to be better as we go here...Overall, not too bad."
Senior Matthew Felleman started the meet off for Penn State in the first rotation, the floor exercise. He finished with a score of 15.050 and helped energize the team to grab four of the top five spots in the event.
"It's definitely a hit routine in the beginning," said Felleman. "It gets the energy going and it's what Randy's looking for."
Though Felleman loves to bring liveliness to his teammates, he loves the enthusiasm that the crowd at Rec Hall brings to the meets even more.
"[I'm going to remember] the meets at Rec Hall the most because the crowd's awesome, especially when we get a nice and loud "We Are...Penn State" from the crowd. That's what shakes me," said Felleman.
After the meet, the five seniors were recognized with individual video montages of their gymnastics careers, from the early childhood years to their time at Penn State.
"It was crazy [to see myself on the screen]," said Duverglas. "I didn't even know my parents had some of those videos, but it's just odd to see how hard we've come from the middle competition that we did as kids to competing for a university, like Penn State. The transition is just insane."
Four years may seem like a long time, but it goes by quicker than one would believe.
"[The videos] made me realize how fast it went by, especially when I went up to Randy and shook his hand and he goes, `I told you it would go by fast,'" said Felleman. "I remember when I was a freshman and our seniors were doing this and now it's real."
The men's gymnastics team finished their regular home meet with a win and coach Jepson had only high praise for the five seniors and everything they've accomplished.
"They're just great guys," said coach Jepson. "These guys come in and they get to know what our program is all about and they get to know our staff and we get to know them. It's really a bond that's made between all of us to get them to be the best they can everywhere. You know, it's tough to say goodbye, they've got a couple more seasons, so we're not going to say goodbye fully yet, but it's great to see the videos of when they're youngsters in their first couple of meets when they're kids. They're just hardworking young guys and they/re great people, so that's what keeps me ticking in this job - I love what I do because I love my guys and they're just wonderful young men."