UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Two Penn State men's gymnasts were named finalists for the Nissen-Emery Award on Friday. Stephen Nedoroscik and Sam Zakutney are two of just six finalists for the prestigious honor.
Penn State is one of just two teams in the nation to have multiple gymnasts selected as finalists. Also on the list are Stanford's David Jessen and Bailey Perez, Illinois' Michael Paradise and Nebraska's Jake Bonnay.
Nedoroscik is a two-time national champion and one time-national runner-up on pommel horse, giving him three All-America honors. He has easily been the best on the apparatus again this season, totaling a national-best NQA of 15.583. He owns the top three routines in the nation this season, including a 15.9 in a win at Air Force. No one else has scored 15.0 or better collegiately this season.
Zakutney is a three-time All-American, earning the honor on parallel bars twice (2017-18) and high bar once (2018). He won the Big Ten title on parallel bars last season, earning first- team All-Big Ten recognition. The Lions' best all-around gymnast, Zakutney's success came immediately as he was voted the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in his debut season.
The Nissen-Emery Award is the highest honor in collegiate gymnastics. Awarded in recognition of outstanding athletic achievement, academic excellence and sportsmanship, it is equivalent to college football's Heisman Trophy.
Presented annually to the top collegiate male senior gymnast in the U.S., the award was originally named the Nissen Award after George Nissen, a former NCAA Champion, for his contributions to the sport. In 1997, it was renamed the Nissen-Emery Award in honor of former Penn State gymnast Dr. Robert Emery for his support of the sport. Emery won the award in 1969.
Penn State's six recipients ranks second for the most in the award's history. The first award was presented in 1966. Most recently, Casey Sandy received the award in 2009. Steve Cohen was the Lion's first winner in 1967, followed by Emery in 1969, Gene Whelan in 1976, Spider Maxwell in 1987 and Matt Cohen in 2007.
