IOWA CITY, Iowa – The fifth-ranked Penn State men's gymnastics team continued to rack up individual wins, but the team score didn't go the Lions way in a 398.850-393.550 loss to No. 6 Iowa in a Big Ten meet on Saturday.
"It was a really rough night for Penn State," said Nittany Lions head coach Randy Jepson. "We are a much better team than what we showed. We hope this is motivating for us and our guys will be fired up to show how good they are. We need to get some guys healthier and they need to be more fierce and smarter as we get back into the flow of things."
Penn State won three individual titles outright and shared the event win with Iowa in another. Freshman Matt Cormier brought home two event victories, winning vault and sharing the title with freshman teammate Michael Jaroh on high bar. Jack Baldwin took first on pommel horse, while Parker Clayton was the winner on rings.
Clayton scored 14.0 on rings and has now won the event in four of the team's five meets this season. He was the runner-up finisher in the other meet. He easily bested the runner-up gymnast from Iowa's score of 13.35. Clayton entered the meet ranked fourth in the nation in the event.
Winning events is nothing new to Cormier this season either. The freshman has at least one first-place finish in all four meets he has competed in this season, totaling seven overall. Against the Hawkeyes Cormier took first on vault with a score of 14.6 and shared the title with Jaroh on high bar with a score of 13.25. Jaroh was the runner-up on vault with a score of 14.4.
Baldwin earned his first event win of the season, scoring 13.45 on pommel horse. Ethan Dick finished third.
Michael Jaroh was a bright spot for us tonight," Jepson said. "It was good to get him back in the mix. Her performed well after Just a couple of days of training and we're proud of his efforts. Jack Baldwin getting the win on pommel horse was great, as well."
Other top-three finishers for Penn State included Eric Lung with a runner-up showing on floor and Dick with a third-place finish on parallel bars. Lung has finished top three on floor in consecutive weeks.
Penn State takes a break from Big Ten competition this coming week as the Lions instead take on Navy. The meet will be held virtually with Penn State competing at its practice facility in the White Building on Saturday.
