March 24, 2018
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - The Penn State men's gymnastics team used a last rotation comeback to secure a 407.350-405.050 victory over Michigan in its final regular season meet Saturday, March 24 at Cliff Keen Arena.
The Nittany Lions earned four event victories with Sam Zakutney (Ottawa, Ontario) taking the win on both the parallel bars and the high bar for the second-straight meet. Sophomore Stephen Nedoroscik (Worcester, Mass.) notched his sixth pommel horse title and third-straight win, while Noah Roberson (Williamsville, N.Y.) picked up the still rings title and Wyatt Tyndall (Saskatoon, Saskatchewan) shared the high bar win with Zakutney.
Michigan took the early lead in the first rotation, scoring a 68.650 on the floor exercise compared to Penn State's 64.600 on the pommel horse. Nedoroscik picked up his sixth victory on the pommel horse and his third-straight win, tying for first with a 14.450, while Jack Baldwin (Mexico, N.Y.) placed fourth overall with a 13.200
The Nittany Lions made up the difference in the second rotation, to take a 131.750-121.800 lead over the Wolverines after two rotations at Cliff Keen Arena. Brennan Pantazis (Sparks, Neb.) led the Nittany Lions with a second-place finish, scoring a 14.000 on the floor exercise and Chris Sands (Lancaster, Pa.) tied for fifth overall with a 13.550.
Michigan regained the lead in the third rotation despite Penn State's 70.050 on the vault. Michigan took the top four spots and Brayden Borromeo (Littlestown, Pa.) placed fifth with a 14.3000 and Tyndall placed seventh overall with a 14.100.
Penn State took the top two places on the still rings with Roberson winning the event, scoring a 14.250 and Greg Tamargo (Kennett Square, Pa.) finishing second overall with a 14.150. Dmitri Belanovski broke up the clean sweep of the still rings, notching a 14.100 for Michigan and Isaac Hammett (Sacramento, Calif.) placed fourth with a 13.950.
Still trailing after four rotations, the Nittany Lions scored a 68.300 on the high bar with Zakutney and Tyndall sharing the victory, scoring matching 14.150s. Michigan took the next three spots and Alex Frack (Nazareth, Pa.) tied for sixth overall with a 13.400.
Penn State used a huge set in its final rotation behind the second win of the day from Zakutney, who scored a 14.600 for his fifth title of the season. Tyndall placed second for the Blue and White and fourth overall with a 14.000 and Michael Burns (Baltimore, Ohio) placed fifth with a 13.350.
The Nittany Lions will take a week off before it goes in search of its fourth Big Ten Championship and first since the 2015 season Friday, April 6-Saturday, April 7 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.