CAREER HONORS
Team Captain (2018-19)
Academic All-Big Ten (2017, 2018)
First Team CGA All-America Scholar-Athlete (2016, 2017)
CAREER BESTS
Event | Score | Date | Site/Opponent |
Floor Exercise | 14.300 | 1/27/18 & 3/3/18 | Illinois & at Iowa |
Still Rings |
14.700 | 1/23/16 | at Minnesota |
Vault | 14.050 | 3/24/17 & 4/6/18 | at Michigan & at Big Ten Championships |
Parallel Bars | 13.100 | 1/27/18 | Illinois |
High Bar | 13.750 | 2/9/18 | at Ohio State |
2018 (Junior Year)
Notched Academic All-Big Ten honors … Participated in five events for the Blue and White in his junior campaign … Had three floor exercise victories in 2018, winning back-to-back titles at Iowa (3/3) and Arizona State (3/10) ... Scored a season-best 14.300 on the floor exercise against both Illinois (1/27) and at Iowa … Picked up the win for Penn State on the still rings against Minnesota (2/24), scoring a 14.200 … Stepped up to compete on the vault and parallel bars for Penn State doing five routines on vault and one on the parallel bars … Placed second on the high bar at Arizona State (3/10) after winning the floor exercise.
2017 (Sophomore Year)
Appeared on both the floor exercise and the still rings, while doing one routine on the vault … Notched a victory on the still rings at Navy (2/25) … Picked up a second-place finish on the floor exercise with a season-best 14.250 against Iowa (3/25) … Nabbed two third-place finishes on both the floor exercise and the still rings … Competed in the NCAA Individual Event Finals (4/22) on the still rings.
2016 (Freshman Year)
Made eight touches on the still rings and one touch on both the vault and the high bar in his first season donning the Blue and White … Finished fourth on the still rings against West Point (1/9) … Tied for second at Minnesota (1/23) with a personal-best 14.700 … Placed fifth on the still rings against Nebraska (3/11).
Gymnastics Background
Prepped at Lancaster Catholic High School where he earned the highest academic grade in Honors Dramaturgy in his senior year and was a Scholastic Writing Award Silver Key recipient in 2012 and 2014 … Also lettered in track and field for the Crusaders … Earned Scholastic Art Award Silver Key in 2013 and 2015 … Trained at Prestige Gymnastics in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, where he posted a third-place finish on the still rings and a ninth-place floor exercise at the 2015 Junior Olympic Nationals Championships ... Garnered a third-place finish in the all-around at the University of Calgary International Cup and state titles on the floor exercise and still rings in 2015…Nabbed top-10 finishes on the vault (4th), all-around (7th), still rings (8th) and floor exercise (10th) at the Junior Olympic National Championships in 2014…Finished fourth in the Region 7 all-around competition in his junior year…Was the state champion in the floor exercise as a sophomore and the regional vault champion in his freshman season…Voted team captain for two years…Earned USA Gymnastics Academic All-American Honorable Mention accolades as a junior and second team honors in his senior campaign.
Personal
Full name is Christopher Michael Sands … Son of Mervin Sands and Diane Boomsma … Has one brother, Patrick … Majoring in kinesiology … Is a Boy Scouts of America Eagle Scout.