ANN ARBOR, Mich. – No. 7 Penn State men's gymnastics won two individual events and posted its best score of the season in a 408.400-401.800 loss to No. 4 Michigan Friday night at Cliff Keen Arena. The meet aired live on the Big Ten Network.
Penn State dropped to 11-4 overall and 0-4 in the Big Ten, while Michigan improved to 12-1 overall and 3-1 in the conference. The Wolverines clinched a share of the Big Ten regular season title.
Sophomores Matt Cormier and Michael Jaroh contributed heavily to the season-best team score as each recorded personal-best all-around scores. Cormier won the all-around competition with score of 81.450, while Jaroh wasn't far behind in second at 81.150.
Cormier had one of the two event wins for Penn State, opening the meet with a first-place finish on floor. His score of 14.6 was the team's highest on floor this season and helped the Lions post their highest score (67.800) in the event this season.
Chase Clingman had Penn State's other event win and did so in impressive fashion. The junior's score of 14.2 on pommel horse was a personal best, as well as the best scored by the team in the event this season. It's the fourth win of the season on pommel horse for Clingman. Jaroh scored a season-best 13.85 and was third, while Josh Karnes took fifth with a personal-best 13.1.
Senior Kaleb Booth added a PR in the final regular season meet of his career, finishing second with a 14.5 after sticking his landing on vault. Cormier was third with a 14.4, while Michael Artlip posted a personal-best 14.35 and tied for fourth.
Jaroh closed the meet with a fourth-place finish on parallel bars and third on high bar. Andres Perez Gines was fourth on high bar.
"We're headed in the right direction but we're not where we need to be and we're running out of time," Penn State head coach Randy Jepson said. "We've got the Big Ten Championships coming up in two weeks. I think the guys are focused and they see the possibilities; we just need to execute better."
Penn State will host the Big Ten Championships at Rec Hall on April 1-2.
