UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The Penn State men's gymnastics team is in search of its nation-leading 13th National Championship Friday, April 19-Saturday, April 20 at the University of Illinois. The Nittany Lions will compete in session II with the first event slated for 8 p.m. ET. The top three teams of session I and session II will qualify for the team event finals on Saturday, April 20 starting at 7 p.m. ET at the State Farm Center.
SESSION II COMPETITION
Penn State will be in the second session Friday, April 19 and will compete to earn a top-three spot for the team finals on Saturday, April 20. The Nittany Lions will go up against No. 1 Oklahoma, No. 4 Illinois, No. 8 Iowa, No. 9 Ohio State and No. 12 Army to compete for a spot in the team finals.
ROTATION ORDER
The Blue and White will start on the vault before moving to the parallel bars and finishing the third rotation on the high bar. Penn State will compete on the floor exercise in rotation four, the pommel horse in the fifth rotation and close out the meet on the still rings. This is the same rotation order Penn State drew at the 2019 Big Ten Championships.
ROBERSON LOOKING FOR THIRD-STRAIGHT ELITE 90 AWARD
Redshirt-senior Noah Roberson is one of the 2019 men's gymnastics Elite 90 nominees after exhibiting hard work on the mat and in the classroom. Roberson captured the award in both the 2017 and 2018 campaigns and was a finalist in 2016. If Roberson wins, he will be just the sixth athlete in the history of the award to take the honor three times. The ELITE 90, an award founded by the NCAA, recognizes the true essence of the student-athlete by honoring the individual who has reached the pinnacle of competition at the national championship level in his or her sport, while also achieving the highest academic standard among his or her peers. The Elite 90 is presented to the student-athlete with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships. Roberson, a Schreyer Honors Scholar, currently carries a 4.0 grade point average as a double major in biomedical engineering and mechanical engineering, while also earning his masters through the Penn State Integrated program. He also finished in second at the 2019 Big Ten Championships.
DEFENDING A TITLE
Junior Stephen Nedoroscik heads to the 2019 NCAA Championships as the two-time reigning pommel horse national champion, scoring a 14.900 to earn the victory in the 2017 campaign and a 14.666 in 2018. Two years ago, Nedoroscik was the first routine of the evening as his score held for the remainder of the meet allowing him to capture the title as a freshman. Last year, Nedoroscik joined Brandon Stefaniak and Mark Sohn as repeat national champions for Penn State on the pommel horse. Stefaniak won the title in both 1999 and 2000, while Sohn captured the title for four-straight seasons from 1989-1991. This year, Nedoroscik looks to join Sohn on a three-peat. Nedoroscik enters the meet as the No. 1 pommel horse specialist with an NQA of 15.088. He opened the season with a career-best 15.300 at the West Point Open and won the Winter Cup title and earned a spot on the 12-man Team USA roster, and competed in Doha, Qatar for the World Cup, and finished in 6th place.
ZAKUTNEY CAPTURES B1G PARALLEL BARS TITLE
Penn State junior Sam Zakutney won the parallel bars with a 14.325 for his first Big Ten Championships event title of his career. Zakutney also earned All-Big Ten first team honors for his performance at the championships as he added a third-place finish on high bar and a seventh-place finish on floor. Zakutney ranks sixth in the nation on p-bars and has a 14.281 NQA, while recording a 14.500 as a season high earlier this year.
B1G TEAM CHAMPIONS
The Penn State men's gymnastics team claimed the 2019 Big Ten Championships title to earn the program's fourth team title, first since 2015, with a season-high team score of 410.350. Heading into the final rotation, it was neck-and-neck between the Nittany Lions, Illinois and Michigan. Penn State trailed Illinois, the leader, by 2.9 points.
With the Blue & White on rings, Penn State stepped up and answered the call.
Borromeo opened things up strong with a 14.100. Tamargo added a 12.950 with a fall, and Clayton followed with a 14.050. Redshirt senior Noah Roberson came up big with a 14.300, and Isaac Hammett followed it with a 14.350 to seal the win.
"This team never reached its full potential during the regular season and they were hungry to show everyone what they were capable of," Head Coach Randy Jepson said following the meet. "They came together and were relentless tonight and earned the Big Ten title. I am very proud of their tenacity and grit. This gives us great momentum and confidence going into the National Championship in two weeks."
