UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- No. 4 Penn State men's gymnastics loses to no. 3 Nebraska in a tight 399.550-398.000 competition. Josh Karnes takes a first-place event title on parallel bars with a 14.350. Michael Jaroh earns first on rings for the second consecutive time in a home meet with a 14.200.
The Nittany Lions lead the Cornhuskers on two of the events. The team earned a 69.600 on still rings to top Nebraska and led parallel bars 65.100-63.300.
Head coach Randy Jepson said, "It was a really well fought meet today for both teams. We had a couple of setbacks but hats off to Nebraska for its performance today."
Along with Karnes's first place finish on parallel bars, he tied his career high and earned the stick bonus. He notched a stick bonus on high bar and scored a 13.600. Another career high for the sophomore came on pommel horse with a score of 13.250.
Junior Jaroh posted another first-place finish on still rings with a 14.200 and stuck the landing for the bonus. He finished behind Karnes on parallel bars in second place with a score 14.100.
Penn State sailed past Nebraska on still rings, clenching the top five finishes. The duo of Matt's, Underhill (13.850) and Cormier (13.850), had back-to-back sticks on still rings to tie each other for third place. Ian Raubal finished in second with a 14.000 and Nate Warren finished in fifth with a 13.700.
Junior Ethan Dick made his first appearance back from injury this season on floor (13.000), pommel horse (12.350) and parallel bars (11.950).
Freshman Will Fleck had his best showing in his campaign so far on floor with a 13.350, landing in fourth place behind teammates Cormier in third (13.850) and Michael Artlip in second (13.900).
Artlip managed to tie is career high on vault from earlier this season at the West Point Open with a 14.450, good for a second-place finish.
Jepson finished with, "we have some refinement we can get done but we're optimistic. I am excited to get back in the gym and get after it this week."
UP NEXT
The Nittany Lions take on their next Big Ten opponent at Illinois on Saturday, Feb. 4 at 4 p.m.
