Feb. 1, 2016
By Miranda Kulp, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -The Penn State men's gymnastics team returned to Rec Hall on Saturday, January 30 to top the University of Illinois in a 430.200-429.200 victory. The Nittany Lions were also able to earn four season-best scores on the floor exercise, pommel horse, still rings and parallel bars.
In the nail-biter of a meet, junior Dominic DiFulvio was scored a career-best of 85.500 and earn his second career all-around title to help the Blue and White notch the win.
"We grew up today," stated Head Coach Randy Jepson. "We knew it would be a hard fought contest. After last weekend's frustrations and sub-par performance I was really looking forward to the guys coming out within a week and having an opportunity to fight and show the kind of spirit they had. I think they did that today so I'm very pleased."
Taking the lead early, Penn State performed well on floor exercise with DiFulvio and senior Alexis Torres' performances giving the Blue and White the jump in scores.
"We have our bad days and we have our good days, but today I would definitely say was a good day for the team," said Torres. "We all just came out focused on performing at our best levels and today we were focused on hitting our routines. Today was a good win for the team."
Following the floor, the Lions posted another season-best on the pommel horse with a score of 70.300 as a team. Helping the team hit this score was junior, team captain Leroy Clarke, Jr. and sophomore Colin Coates. In addition, junior Christian McSwain helped with a score of 14.550.
"Everyone did a great job today," commented Jepson. They all were focused and looked strong during routines, these guys are hungry for the win and they fought for it today."
During the third rotation, the Fighting Illini took the lead by sweeping the first three spots on the vault.
Penn State earned its third-season-best score of the afternoon on the still rings with a 72.650 in the third rotation. DiFulvio and Clarke placed second and third, respectively, to help bring the Lions back into the competition.
"We always want to be each other's biggest support so we're always cheering one another on, "noted Torres. "We had some people give standout performances today and we always make sure we're there for one another as a team."
Penn State took the lead back during the fifth rotation with another season-best score on parallel bars. Clarke and Torres led the Nittany Lions, tying for first with matching 15.050s.
Continuing to hit his routines, Clarke, Jr. earned his second title of the day with his high bar performance, scoring a 14.400.
In the end of close match, Penn State Nittany Lions clinched the win by defeating the Fighting Illini by a one-point difference.
Up next for Penn State will be a weeklong rest before heading to Columbus, Ohio for a meet against the Buckeyes of Ohio State. With the first Big Ten Conference victory under the Lions belt, they'll remain focused for OSU.
The Nittany Lions and the Buckeyes square off Saturday, Feb. 13 at 4 p.m.