April 6, 2018
By Madeleine Balestrier, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Throughout the season, Penn State men's gymnastics team and its fans find the most anticipation and competition from their conference counterparts, because those dual meets always lead to one weekend in April.
This weekend the stakes will be raised as the best of the Big Ten gymnastic programs compete for the championship in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
"It is one of the most exciting meets in the world," head coach Randy Jepson said. "I have been to the World Championship, the Olympic games. There is more fervor in the arena for a Big Ten than the World Championships that I've been to and even the Olympic games."
The Nittany Lions will face familiar foes in Michigan, Iowa, Illinois, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio State.
"These are guys that are really passionate about their teams and their teammates," Jepson said. "On an NCAA team, those guys want to know who's in the fox hole with them and it's just fun that way. It's mano-e-mano so they really look forward to it."
Although Nittany Lions are an even 3-3 against their Big Ten competition this season, they are coming off a crucial victory against the Michigan Wolverines. On March 24, the Blue and White came from behind to outlast the Wolverines 407.350 - 405.050 in Ann Arbor.
"That was definitely a big confidence builder for us so I think from that I think we'll have the confidence to go into Big Tens and just know that we can do it," junior Josh Smith said.
"Michigan was a great meet," freshman Alex Frack said. "Lots of hits, lots of clean gymnastics. I mean we almost went 100 percent with our hit ratio and that was huge for us. We needed that mentally, physically, the whole team. We feel prepared now and we just got to take that and keep it going."
As a force on both bar events, Frack finds great opportunity for himself and the team at his first Big Ten championships of his career.
"Got a lot of energy going into it," Frack said. "Team's looking really good. I'm super pumped, I mean this is what we've been training for. The season comes down to these last two meets and I am looking forward to it."
In addition to the different bar rotations that found it's swing against Michigan, Jepson finds great potential in his ring lineup.
"We are good on rings," Jepson said. "First event out and I hope the judges recognize that...because we are markedly better than some other teams."
Putting its best foot forward, Penn State will begin the meet on still rings. Throughout the season, senior Greg Tamargo and juniors Noah Robertson and Chris Sands have proven their consistency and strength on the event.
Jepson also sees the Big Ten championship as an opportunity to continue improving and evolving as a unit.
"All of our landings need to be solid, floor landings especially," Jepson said. "We want to be able to land better on vault as well. We are prepared to do a good job everywhere. I think we are really well prepared for this meet."
As the 2018 event leader in both floor and vault, Smith will set the precedent for Jepson's expectations and his teammates.
"[If] we go in there and do our very best we can't be disappointed with that if we go in and hit 100 percent and do whatever we can to get a win," Smith said.
Big Ten Championships are set for this Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the Crisler Center in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Team and all-around finals will take place on Friday, April 6, while individual finals will fall on Saturday, April 7.
"We just have to be consistent," Jepson said on the key to the meet. "The great thing about this meet, I've never seen a Big Ten meet like it. Every team is in contention. Every team is really good and that will be just a great challenge for our guys. They are really excited about that and it's going to come down to the last rotation and the last few routines and we will see what happens. We just want to be solid and do our jobs and see what happens."