COLUMBUS, Ohio – Sophomore Scott Rosenthal of Clearfield was one of four Penn State gymnasts to earn All-American honors with top-eight finishes in the individual finals of the 2011 National Collegiate Championships in Ohio State’s St. John’s Arena Saturday.
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Rosenthal placed eighth among the 10 finalists on the still rings with what, for him, was a sub-par 15.000 score.
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Nittany Lion junior Miguel Pineda of Galloway, Ohio, tied for second with a 15.400 that was bettered only by the 16.000 posted by Ohio State’s Brandon Wynn.
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Rosenthal had scored less than 15.400 only two times during his brilliant season that was highlighted by nine individual titles, a runner-up finish behind Wynn at the Big 10 Conference Championships and a No. 1 national ranking by GymInfo.
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On three occasions during the season, the 5-6 Rosenthal posted career-bests, topped by a 15.900 at Illinois on Feb. 19.
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Penn State sophomore Parker Raque of Louisville, Ky., became an All-American in two events, placing fourth in the vault with a 16.050, which tied his career high, and tying for fifth in floor exercise with a personal-best 15.400.Â
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Freshman Wasef Burbar of Arlington Heights, Ill., tied for sixth on the high bar with a 14.800 to help raise Penn State’s total of All-Americans to 107 since 1980.
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Pineda (career-high 15.900) and Rosenthal (15.850) were one-two on the rings during Thursday’s team qualifiers and combined with Raque (15.350) and Felix Aronovich (15.200) for a 62.300 that broke the Penn State program record of 62.000 set at the 2008 national championships.
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The quartet’s strong showing enabled the Nittany Lions to attain a 356.000, their second highest score of the season, and tie Illinois for second. They were joined by Oklahoma, No. 1 with a 363.500, as the three teams from their qualifier to advance to the six-team finals.
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“We were really solid on rings and I knew we would do a good job, but I didn’t know how solid we would be,” head coach Randy Jepson was quoted on the official Penn State men’s gymnastics website. “That was the best we have been all year. Our ring score competed with some vault scores, which is outstanding.”
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Penn State couldn’t improve on its overall performance Friday and finished sixth with a 355.700.
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Stanford earned a 363.450 to claim its second title in three years. Trailing were Oklahoma (361.600), Illinois (360.150), California (358.700) and 2010 champion Michigan (356.200).
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The rings foursome excelled again to pace the Nittany Lions. Pineda (15.650) was third, Rosenthal (15.500) tied for fourth, Raque (15.300) tied for eighth and Aronovich (15.250) tied for 11th.
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Their 61.700Â was one point better than Stanford, ranked No. 1Â in that event at the end of the regular season.
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The team and all-around finals of the 2011 National Collegiate Championships will air on ESPN2 on Thursday at 1:30 p.m.
