MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Penn State men's gymnastics had eight gymnasts qualify for the NCAA Championships with their performances in the pre-qualifying session Friday night at Minnesota's Maturi Pavilion.
Freshman Ethan Dick competed in the all-around for the first time in his career and qualified for Saturday's final with a score of 80.464. He will be joined in the final session by Kaleb Booth (floor, vault), Michael Jaroh (pommel horse, parallel bars), Matt Cormier (floor), Jack Baldwin (pommel horse), Nick Mock (pommel horse), Parker Clayton (rings) and Alex Frack (high bar).
The Nittany Lions finished fourth out of six teams in their qualifying session, missing out on qualifying for the finals as a team by just one spot. Stanford took first with a score of 413.855, followed by Michigan (411.45) and Minnesota (404.623). Penn State (402.356), Iowa (401.120) and California (392.055) rounded out the field.
Penn State trailed Minnesota by 5.033 points heading into the final rotation, which had the Lions on vault and the Gophers on parallel bars. The Lions got off to a good start with a stick by Kaleb Booth that helped him get a career-best 14.4, but they couldn't make up the deficit.
Cormier had the best routine of the day for Penn State, posting the second-best score of the session on floor with a 14.9. That was a career high for the freshman, who was only behind Minnesota's Shane Wiskus, the 2021 Nissen-Emery Award winner. Booth qualified with a score of 14.0, which is a season-best for the junior.
Penn State took all three of the qualifying spots allotted to gymnasts not on qualifying teams on pommel horse. Mock (13.8), Baldwin (13.766) and Jaroh (13.700) took fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively.
Senior Parker Clayton shook off an injury that sidelined him from the Big Ten Championships to qualify for the NCAA finals in his final championship meet. He scored 14.133, which tied for sixth in the session.
Jaroh, who finished fifth all-around with a score of 70.497, added a second qualifying event with a score of 13.766 while tying for eighth on parallel bars.
Senior Alex Frack extended his collegiate career for one more day by qualifying for the final on high bar. He scored 13.400, which matched his season best.
"Tonight was disappointing," Penn State head coach Randy Jepson said. "We were really solid through four events, but you have to be solid through six. We had four misses at the end that held us back and kept us out of the championship final.
"I'm excited for the guys who did qualify through. We'll be well-represented there tomorrow night. We'll keep the Blue and White fighting hard."
Saturday's final session is scheduled or 8 p.m. ET at Maturi Pavilion. It will air live on Big Ten Network.
