UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – No. 5 Penn State won four of six individual events on its way to a 390.350-372.600 victory over Army West Point in a non-conference men's gymnastics meet Saturday at Rec Hall. The Lions, who improved to 7-0 on the season, won their home opener for a 40th consecutive season.
Isaac Hammett remained unbeaten on rings this season, winning easily with a score of 13.7 compared to a 13.1 by the runner-up. Hammett had the top score on rings during the team portion of the West Point Open last weekend and then added a first-place finish in the finals the following day. He entered the weekend with the second-best routine in the nation this season at 14.350.
Andres Perez Gines was solid in his Penn State debut after arriving to campus from Puerto Rico just weeks ago. He competed in two events as he starts to work his way into being fully competition ready, finishing first on high bar with a score of 13.800. Only Alex Frack has a better score for Penn State on high bar through the first two weeks of the season. The Lions took the top four spots in the event against the Black Knights with Nate Warren, Brady Yamamoto and Frack taking second through fourth.
Yamamoto was also an event winner on the day while leading a Penn State group that took the top five spots on floor. He won with a 13.600 while Robbie Shamp and Brennan Pantazis tied for second at 13.400. Kaleb Booth and Frack rounded out the top five.
Shamp picked up his first career event win while tying for first with teammate Brayden Borromeo on vault. Both gymnasts scored 14.150. Borromeo was the runner-up in the event last weekend at the West Point Open.
In the events that Penn State didn't win, Frack and Stephen Nedoroscik were second and third on pommel horse, and Eric Lung and Frack took second and third on parallel bars.
Still not at full strength, Penn State saw a dip in its team score from the 403.400 it scored while winning the West Point Open. The Lions did see improvement in one event, scoring 66.100 compared to 65.000 last weekend on floor.
"It wasn't pretty outside so I'm thankful for our fans that braved the weather to come to Rec Hall," Penn State head coach Randy Jepson said. "I wish we could have made it more pretty inside, but we didn't have a great day. In spite of that we were able to see great progress from some guys and came out with a win. We know we have a lot of work to do going into a big matchup with Ohio State next week."
The matchup with Ohio State is the first Big Ten meet of the season for both teams. It is scheduled for 8 p.m., on Saturday, Jan. 25, and will be streamed live on the Fox Sports App. The replay will air on the Big Ten Network the following day.
Penn State fell to Ohio State in Columbus last season but went on to win the Big Ten Championships the following month.
