Feb. 22, 2018
PENN STATE READY TO HOST MINNESOTA
The Penn State men's gymnastics team will host its final double dual of the season when Minnesota comes to town Saturday, Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. The women's gymnastics team will be competing against George Washington at the same time as the team will white out Rec Hall.
CATCHING THE MEET FROM HOME
Fans who cannot make it out to the meet on Saturday, can follow along with live results on GoPSUsports.com or watch live on LionVision.
SERIES HISTORY WITH THE GOLDEN GOPHERS
The Nittany Lions hold the 11-4 advantage over Minnesota in dual meets, however, Penn State has been unable to secure a dual meet win over the Golden Gophers since the 2014 season when it took a 440.200-431.500 victory at Rec Hall. The Blue and White secured five-straight victories over Minnesota from 2010-2014.
SCOUTING MINNESOTA
The Golden Gophers come into the dual meet ranked No. 6 nationally after six weeks of team competition. Most recently, Minnesota defeated No. 7 Illinois in a home meet, taking four individual titles in the meet including Shane Wiskus notching the all-around victory. Wiskus comes into the meet with the Nittany Lions ranked third nationally in the all-around, second on the floor and third on the parallel bars. As a team, Minnesota ranks second on the vault with an average team score of 71.275.
FIVE UP, FIVE COUNT
Reaching the midway point of the 2018 season, men's gymnastics will now go to the five up, five count format for the remainder of the season. The Nittany Lions will keep all five scores that go up and compete instead of taking the five highest like it is prior to the Winter Cup.
NEDOROSCIK PLACES FOURTH AT WINTER CUP
Sophomore Stephen Nedoroscik had a strong showing at the Winter Cup after qualifying for the event finals on the pommel horse Saturday, Feb. 17. Nedoroscik was just one place out of the top-three, notching a fourth-place finish on the pommel horse. The sophomore pommel horse specialist scored a 13.900 in his first round before earning a 14.800 in the second.
WINTER CUP HIGHLIGHTS
The Penn State men's gymnastics team had two participants in the 2018 Winter Cup with sophomore Stephen Nedoroscik qualifying for the finals on the pommel horse and Brennan Pantazis competing in the all-around.The two made their first appearances in the competition after Nedoroscik qualified at the US Championships and Pantazis qualified following the West Point Open. Nedoroscik (Worcester, Mass.) competed on the pommel horse, scoring a 13.900 overall to place ninth overall and earn his spot in the finals. Pantazis returned to his home state for the first time in his collegiate career to compete in the all-around at the Winter Cup. The freshman scored a 74.500 in the all-around, placing 24th overall, while scoring a 13.500 on the vault to tie for 21st overall.
ZAKUTNEY LEADS THE NATION ON PARALLEL BARS
Sophomore Sam Zakutney sits in the top spot in the nation on the parallel bars with a NQA of 14.450. This season, Zakutney has one three titles on the parallel bars while placing second in his other two outings. Zakutney scores a season-best 14.800 to pick up the win against Ohio State.
MGYM WINS SECOND-STRAIGHT THON PEP RALLY
The Penn State men's gymnastics team won its second-straight THON pep rally after competing against other Penn State athletic teams. Since 1977, THON has partnered with The Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children's Hospital with one goal in mind: conquering childhood cancer. To date, more than $136 million has been raised by THON, including more than $10 million in 2016-18, and at least 95 percent of the funds raised at THON are donated directly to Four Diamonds.
PENN STATE POSTS SECOND-BEST SCORE NATIONALLY
The Penn State men's gymnastics team picked up its first Big Ten Conference win of the season with a season-best 417.400 at Ohio State Friday, Feb. 9. The Buckeyes scored a 414.900 in the meet to fall in their third Big Ten meet of the season. Penn State's score of 417.400 ranks second nationally to only three-straight NCAA Champion Oklahoma, who scored a 418.000 this season. The Nittany Lions bested their season-best scores on four out of six events including: floor exercise (70.950), pommel horse (69.200), still rings (69.950), and high bar (67.500). Furthermore, the Blue and White had five career bests on the day with two event victories.
ZAKUTNEY COMPETES AT ELITE CANADA MEET
With Penn State having a bye week, it gave sophomore Sam Zakutney an opportunity to head to Quebec, Canada to compete in 2018 Elite Canada. Elite Canada is the equivalent of the Winter Cup for American gymnasts. Zakutney competed in the all-around, placing fourth overall with a 75.134. The Ottawa, Ontario native also tied for fourth on the floor exercise with a 13.300 and placed seventh on both the vault and high bar.
TICKET INFORMATION
For information on purchasing 2018 season tickets fans can visit http://www.GoPSUsports.com/tickets or call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
NEXT UP
Penn State will get back on the road Saturday, March 3 when it travels to Iowa City, Iowa for a 8 p.m. meet against the Hawkeyes.
