March 2, 2018
| Saturday, March 3 | 8 p.m. | Iowa City, Iowa | |
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March 2, 2018
PENN STATE TRAVELS TO IOWA
The Penn State men's gymnastics team hits the road as it heads to Iowa City, Iowa for a dual against the Hawkeyes Saturday, March 3 at 8 p.m. The meet will mark the fourth Big Ten meet of the season for the Nittany Lions as they have picked up one victory this season in conference action.
CATCHING THE MEET FROM HOME
Fans who cannot make it out to the meet on Saturday, can follow along with live results on HawkeyeSports.com or follow along live on Twitter @PennStateMGYM.
SERIES HISTORY WITH THE HAWKEYES
Penn State carries the 10-5-1 all-time advantage against Iowa in dual competition, earning the 420.400-414.000 victory on senior day in the 2017 season. The Nittany Lions and the Hawkeyes met up two times in the 2017 campaign, splitting the meeting as Iowa earned the victory at the tri-meet, scoring a 413.500, while Penn State scored a 409.600. The Blue and White makes its first trip to Iowa City, Iowa since the 2016 season when it placed second to Iowa and beat Nebraska in a tri-meet.
SCOUTING IOWA
The Hawkeyes come into the meet as the No. 10 team in the nation with a season average of 397.220, while ranking No. 7 on the pommel horse, No. 8 on the parallel bars and high bar, No. 9 on the still rings, and No. 10 on the vault. Austin Hodges and Dylan Ellsworth are the two top-10 gymnasts for the Hawkeyes as Hodges ranks sixth on the pommel horse and Ellsworth ranks seventh on the vault.
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.
SMITH EARNS SECOND VICTORY OF 2018
Junior Joshua Smith has risen to the top of the list of competitors for Penn State on the floor exercise and the vault. In his second week of competition of the 2018 season, Smith notched his first victory of the season with a 14.650 on the floor exercise, while placing second on the vault. After a week away from the floor, Smith came back to win the vault with a season and team-best 14.600 to notch his second event victory of the season for the Blue and White.
SANDS CONTINUES TO IMPROVE
Junior Chris Sands has been continuing to improve on his still rings routines week in and week out and it has paid off for the Lancaster, Pennsylvania native as he earnned his first victory of the season against Minnesota. As the second competitor for the Nittany Lions against the Golden Gophers, Sands scored a season-best 14.200 to earn his first event victory of the season on the still rings.
PENN STATE PUTS UP STRONG TEAM PERFORMANCE ON VAULT
The Nittany Lions used the lineup of Wyatt Tyndall, Brayden Borromeo, Quest Hayden, Brennan Pantazis, and Joshua Smith to record their season-high score of 71.050 and put it slightly ahead of the Golden Gophers after four rotations in the meet. Penn State would eventually fall to Minnesota, but Borromeo posted a career-best 14.300 on the vault, while Smith notched a season-best 14.600 in the event victory.
NEXT UP
Penn State will compete at Arizona State Saturday, March 10 at 9 p.m. Following the meet against Arizona State, the Nittany Lions will return home for one final meet where it will honors its three seniors.
