March 20, 2015
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -
By Anita Nham, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After finishing sixth at the NCAA Championships last year, the Penn State men's gymnastics team began its 2015 regular season at No. 6 in the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) Preseason Coaches' Poll. Though the Nittany Lions weren't expected to perform as highly as in previous years, the Blue and White exceeded those predictions with a remarkable season.
"I'm pleased [with this season's results]," said head coach Randy Jepson. "We took a team that was not picked to do that great and we're in the hunt here, so I'm really happy with that."
Penn State excelled early in the season with a season-opener win against Army in Rec Hall. The Nittany Lions' feat continued with a first-place finish at West Point, a win against Michigan in the only double dual of the season, a win against Ohio State and a win against Iowa on the annual Senior Night.
In addition to having a perfect home record this season, the men's gymnastics team posted two new school records. The Nittany Lions earned a score of 75.950 on parallel bars in the meet against Michigan and they also broke the record on floor exercise with a score of 75.800 in the meet versus Ohio State.
"We've been pretty constant with our work," said junior Alexis Torres. "We have done better in the past competitions, like in the beginning [of the season], but we still keep it together as a team in our performance."
The blue and white finished off its regular season with two second-place finishes - one at the Puerto Rico Gymnastics Challenge and one against Iowa, Minnesota and Nebraska at Iowa last weekend.
"We thought we'd be kind of right where we are," said coach Jepson. "We've leveled off and kind of plateaued here at the end of the season, but we haven't had everybody together at the end of the season yet either, so I think our best meets are in front of us, which is great. That's where you want to be at the post season."
With so many accomplishments, it's hard for coach Jepson to pick his favorite.
"There's a lot of great moments," said coach Jepson. "To single any one out is really tough, but I look at each guy and I see moments that have just been outstanding and that's one of the joys is of being a coach - just seeing guys rise to the occasion and do great things."
Aside from the team's accolades, numerous gymnasts shined individually this season.
Senior Craig Hernandez is one of the six finalists for the Nissen-Emery Award, an annual honor given to the most outstanding senior student-athlete in collegiate gymnastics. After the meet against Michigan earlier in the season, Hernandez was named the Big Ten Co-Gymnast of the Week after capturing the school record in the pommel horse with a near perfect score of 15.950.
Hernandez and junior Trevor Howard participated in the 2015 Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas and Hernandez was able to finish 12th on the pommel horse with a combined score of 28.850.
Junior Alexis Torres also had a triumphant season by notching three Big Ten Gymnast of the Week honors. In addition, Torres was named the CGA Gymnast of the Week following the 440.800-435.700 win over the Hawkeyes on Senior Night where Torres tallied five top-three finishes to post the top all-around score of the night.
"I mean, I don't win anything, but it does tell me something," said Torres. "It tells me that I've been performing pretty well and that kind of motivates me even more, but still, in my own mind, I think that I can do even better. It's like a reminder to just keep going."
When the men's gymnastics team headed to Puerto Rico for the Puerto Rican Challenge, Torres traveled to Arlington, Texas instead to compete with Puerto Rico in the 2015 AT&T American Cup. The AT&T American Cup is the USA's most prestigious international invitational.
"It was amazing," said Torres. "It was kind of boring because I was alone, but [it was great] to socialize with other gymnasts. They're really great gymnasts. They're like world champions, world medalists. Just being on that stage was an honor and to say that I was competing with the best in the world, I just felt amazing."
The upperclassmen weren't the only ones to succeed as freshmen Thad Lawson captured the Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor three times this season. Lawson has won four individual floor exercise titles this season, too.
The men's gymnastics team has had its ups and downs during the regular season, but they wouldn't have wanted it any other way.
"[I wouldn't have changed anything] this season," said Torres. "We have been working pretty well and we have been mostly healthy. Minor injuries, but we come back really fast and we've maintained the most important concept, which is being healthy."