UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Penn State men's gymnasts Josh Karnes and Ian Raubal were named 2024 Big Ten Gymnasts to Watch, announced by the conference Wednesday afternoon.
Karnes had a stellar sophomore campaign and offseason. In the 2023 season, Karnes received All-Big Ten first team honors after winning the individual event title on parallel bars at the Big Ten Championships. He was also dubbed an All-American for his NCAA Championship performances on parallel bars, vault and the all-around. He collected a career best on parallel bars at the national championships.
The junior qualified for the U.S. National Development team from his scores in the Xfinity U.S. Championships in August as well as placed sixth for the U.S. in the all-around finals at the World University Games earlier that month.
The Erie, Pa. native was most recently named the College Gymnastics Association (CGA) All-Stars Games MVP and took the parallel bars title in the virtual competition.
Raubal had a strong offseason, taking 12th in the all-around finals and posting a fifth-place finish in the still rings for Switzerland in the World University Games.
In Raubal's rookie campaign, he was named Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice and Big Ten Gymnast of the Week once. The Zurich, Switzerland native competed in eight regular season meets, collecting personal best scores of 14.500 in the still rings and 14.100 in the parallel bars.
Penn State enters the 2024 season ranked sixth by CGA.
The Nittany Lions open their 2024 season at home against Army on Friday, Jan. 5.
