March 15, 2018
By Madeleine Balestrier, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - As Rec Hall gears up for its last Penn State men's gymnastics meet of the 2018 campaign, the seniors prepare to dismount for the final time at home. As they stick their landings and hold their form on Saturday against Nebraska, these gymnasts will be competing for those little boys who fell in love with one of the most demanding sports so many years ago.
"It's kind of crazy to think about," team captain Ben Cooperman said. "You hear as freshmen that it goes by fast and it really does but it has been a really special opportunity to be able to compete for Penn State. So, it is really surreal but it is really cool to experience one last time."
Cooperman will be recognized on Saturday alongside Colin Coates, Quest Hayden, Greg Tamargo and Joshua Smith for their dedication to the program over the past four years.
"They've all been instrumental in the success of the team," head coach Randy Jepson said. "That's the tough part, you see guys go and you hope what they've passed on will be instilled in the guys that are coming up next and they can continue to perpetuate that."
Since his freshman year, Cooperman has exceeded expectations in and out of the gym because of his work ethic on pommel horse and rings, his dedication to the team and his respect of the sport. These qualities and developments motivated his teammates to give him the nod as the sole team captain for this season.
"I look at Ben and as a not really highly heralded guy coming in and now he's been elected team captain and he's done a really admirable job of doing everything we've asked," Jepson said.
As a management major, Cooperman is preparing for graduation and hoping to stay immersed in the gymnastics community through judging opportunities.
Like Cooperman, Coates has been a constant for the Blue and White since he joined the team in 2014. As a pommel horse specialist, he has won multiple events and even helped Penn State earn a bid into the NCAA championships.
"At NCAAs we just barely snuck into the top six and we hadn't been hitting pommel horse pretty much the entire season and we got the opportunity to go up," Cooperman said. "I think I was first up and I hit my set and then we had Quest right after me then Colin Coates...all three of us got an opportunity to hit our sets and to help qualify us into the next day and that was a really special moment to share."
Coates career best on pommel horse was a solid 15.050 at the West Point Open of his sophomore year.
"Colin's had a wrist injury that he has managed since last year," Jepson said. "He had surgery this summer. He's really limited in what he can do in terms of reps, yet he's gone out and been really steady for us and that's all we can ask for."
"I've always wanted to be at Penn State," Coates said. "I've competed at Rec Hall since I was about 12 years old as a JO [Junior Olympics] gymnast and to be able to get to put on the Nittany Lion and compete in Rec Hall again has just been amazing."
As a soon-to-be mechanical engineer graduate, Coates hopes to pursue a career as a design engineer within the automotive industry.
Like Coates, Hayden has remained resilient throughout countless injury-riddled seasons to continue to represent and lead the Blue and White.
"I look at Quest and he's had so many injuries," Jepson said. "It's just been really tough for him, but you know you don't always get what you hoped for and he's handled that very pretty well.
As an all-around competitor, Hayden's best event came as a freshman against Iowa when he scored a 14.950 on vault. His freshman season also gave him one of his fondest memories of Penn State gymnastics to this day.
"Definitely freshman year when we won Big Tens," Hayden said. "Everything happening the way it did with Alexis (Torres) getting injured...and then me having to fill his shoes and come in I thought that was a pretty surreal experience and the whole team got to share that as well."
Hayden hopes his love for gymnastics will carry over into his career as he plans to graduate with a psychology degree and immediately look for coaching jobs.
"I really want to be an NCAA coach so I am planning to volunteer coach at a NCAA job hopefully here, but we'll see what doors open up for me and everything," Hayden said.
Like Coates and Hayden, Tamargo has been immersed in Penn State culture since he was a little boy competing in Rec Hall at the start of a successful gymnastics career.
"My whole life, state championships almost every year from the time I was like six-years-old was always here at Penn State," Tamargo said. "So, I grew up competing at Rec Hall since I've been doing gymnastics basically my whole life so just being able to see how much its changed since I was a kid watching these guys growing up competing and now being at the point where this me now."
Since freshman year, Tamargo's development has immensely improved his success on vault, floor and rings. His still rings performance that secured a 14.600 against Nebraska in 2016 still sits above the rest of his career events going into this season.
"Greg is the same kind of thing he's stepped up," Jepson said. "He's come a long way from his freshman year...he's just gotten better and better and this season he is having the best season he's ever had."
Since an injury sidelined him last season, Tamargo will return next year for another season of representing the Blue and White in competition.
Smith has appeared on two events for the Nittany Lions in 2018, earning a win on both the floor exercise and the vault. The Baton Rouge, Louisiana native has also notched two podium finishes on the vault with second-place finishes.
As the bittersweet day dons on the five student-athletes, they've reflected on the bonds they've forged, the memories they made and the sport and school they influenced.
"It's meant a lot being a Penn Stater," Hayden said. "Being apart of something bigger than myself, it's made me realize that my talents and everything that I do isn't just for me it's to help contribute to a bigger goal, a bigger picture."
They began as boys with dreams in a gym, some even in the very spot they will compete in on Saturday, and now they will stand in front of their crowd, teammates and mentors to say goodbye to one of their proudest accomplishments and look towards their new future and new dream.