CAREER HIGHS
Floor Exercise: 15.550 vs. William & Mary and Navy (March 8, 2009)
Vault: 15.900 2x - last at Big Ten Championships (April 4, 2009)
High Bar: 14.700 at Ohio State (Feb. 24, 2008)
PENN STATE CAREER
2009: Competed in three events (floor exercise, vault, and high bar) over the course of the season...Won the floor exercise in the season[apos]s first two meets, versus Army and in the team finals of the West Point Open...Claimed three other top three finishes in the floor...Tied for the season team high in the floor exercise, scoring a 15.450 in the team finals of the National Collegiate Championships...Scored a career best 15.900 in the vault at Oklahoma and in the individual event finals at the Big Ten Championships, placing third...Posted two other third place finishes in the vault - versus Michigan (15.550) and Illinois (15.750)...Ended the ranked No. 16 in the nation in the floor exercise and No. 11 in the vault...Earned a season high score of 14.500 in the high bar in the team finals of the Big Ten Championships.
2008: Competed in three events (floor exercise, vault, and high bar) throughout the season...Won floor exercise title in tri-meet with William & Mary and Navy with a season-high score of 15.550...Also captured one second place finish (Army) and two third places in the floor exercise (Temple and Minnesota)...Started the year out fast, placing third in the vault with a season-best score of 15.800...Demonstrated improvement on the high bar throughout the season, earning spots in the line-up at the Big Ten Championships and National Collegiate Championships...Recorded a season-high score of 14.700 in the high bar at Ohio State.
2007: Earned All-American honors on the floor exercise, placing seventh (tie) at the 2007 NCAA Championships with a score of 9.425...Tied for second in the floor at the team finals of the NCAA Championships with a season-high score of 9.650...Won the floor exercise (8.950) and vault (8.850) titles in his first collegiate meet, a dual meet win over Army...Captured the floor title at the West Point Open with a score of 9.550...Placed second in the floor exercise (9.200) in a home win over Illinois...Used a season-high score of 8.950 to place second versus Michigan and third at the West Point Open in the vault.
NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL CAREER
2007: Competed at the 2007 Winter Cup Challenge in Las Vegas, Nev., scoring a 13.250 in the floor exercise and a 15.700 in the vault in the preliminaries.
GYMNASTICS BACKGROUND
Participated at the club level with Artistic Sports Academy Plus...A floor and vault event finalist at the Junior Nationals 2002-06...2006 Pennsylvania state vault champion...Finished 17th (2004) and 22nd (2006) in the all-around at Junior Nationals...Four-time Region VII team member...National champion in the floor exercise in 2002...2006 Regional vault champion.
PERSONAL
Favorite event is the high bar...After gymnastics, he would like to own an Architectural Engineering firm...Selected Penn State based on its perfect blend of athletics and academics...Sister, Vanessa, competes on the gymnastics and track & field teams at UW-Oshkosh...Majoring in Architectural Engineering.
QUOTING COACH JEPSON
'Nick has solidified a spot in terms of his high bar routine. He has done a nice job and is doing a very big routine. We are training to allow him to be in a position physically to handle the demands of that routine every day. Nick will also step in and do a nice job on vault and on floor, as he has in the past.'