Jan. 28, 2012
Floor Exercise Results | Pommel Horse Results | Still Rings Results | Vault Results | Parallel Bars Results | High Bar Results
WEST POINT, N.Y. - The fourth-ranked Penn State men's gymnastics team concluded competition at the 2012 West Point Open on Saturday night in dominating fashion, sweeping the individual event finals session of the two-day meet. On Friday, Penn State secured its 14th consecutive West Point Open team crown.
"I am very pleased with the team's performance," said Penn State head coach Randy Jepson. "I told them that the goal here should be to win everything. We have never done that; no one has ever done that. But they went out and achieved that objective."
Junior Parker Raque (Louisville, Ky.) (floor exercise) and freshman Tristan Duverglas (West Orange, N.J.) (vault) followed up first placed performances in the team finals with individual wins. Raque, who also placed second in the vault (15.050), has won the floor exercise in each of this season's four competitions while Duverglas posted the team's top two 2012 scores in the vault this weekend.
Senior Miguel Pineda (Galloway, Ohio) improved upon his team finals efforts on day two, capturing titles in the still rings (15.100) and parallel bars (14.350). Junior Scott Rosenthal (Clearfield, Pa.) who won the still rings on day one, placed second just .100 behind Pineda (15.000).
Freshman Craig Hernandez (Libertyville, Ill.) captured his first collegiate pommel horse title in record-setting fashion, tying the Penn State program mark with an impressive score of 15.650. Casey Sandy, the 2009 Nissen-Emery Award winner, exclusively held the benchmark since March 2009.
Junior Felix Aronovich (Kiryat Bialik, Israel) claimed the high bar title, scoring a 14.400, narrowly edging out freshman teammate Matthew Felleman (Medway, Mass.) (14.350).
Junior Tony Beck (Catasauqua, Pa.), who was a key figure in the line-up this weekend for Penn State, completed a 1-2-3 sweep in the high bar, placing third with a score of 14.300). He also placed second in the pommel horse (14.800) and parallel bars (14.300).
Next week, a Penn State contingent made-up of Miguel Pineda, Parker Raque, and sophomore Wasef Burbar (Arlington Heights, Ill.) will travel to Las Vegas, Nev. to compete individually in the prestigious Winter Cup Challenge on February 3 and 5.
The remaining Nittany Lions will begin preparations for an upcoming road dual meet at Springfield College, scheduled for 1 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 12 in Springfield, Mass. A year ago, Penn State downed the Pride, 352.300-316.300, in Rec Hall.