Friday, March 20, 1998
Collegian Sports Briefs for Friday, March 20, 1998
Gymmen make trek to Michigan for Big Tens
The Penn State men's gymnastics team competes in the Big Ten Championships today and tomorrow at Michigan's Crisler Arena.The championships will display some of the best collegiate gymnastics programs and gymnasts, with six of the seven teams nationally ranked in the top eight.
Penn State Men's Gymnastics Home Page
The Lions are ranked No. 5 with an average score of 228.358. Last
week, however, they set their highest team score of the season
with a 231.15 at home against No. 2 Nebraska.
Leading contenders for the all-around title are Illinois' Travis
Romagnoli, Ohio State's Jamie Natalie and Todd Strada for the
Hawkeyes.
Penn State's leading contender for the all-around is Ron Roeder who is averaging 56.617. Mike Dutka, who finished eighth last year at the championships as a freshman, will also contend for the all-around title.
1998 Big Ten Men's Gymnastics Championships Home Page
After an off week next week, the team heads April 4 to Massachusetts
for the NCAA East Regional.
-- by Brian Lennon
Fencers in third place after day at NCAAs
After the first day of competition in the 1998 NCAA Fencing Championships, Notre Dame leads the field with 44 points. The Fighting Irish are followed by Stanford (42) while three-time defending national champion Penn State (34) rounds out the top three."We're all right," Penn State coach Emmanuil Kaidanov said. "I did not expect by the end of the first day we would have such a negative difference. I expected to be behind -- but not that much."
Penn State Fencing Home Page
"Women's epee did a great job," Kaidanov said. "Women's
foil could be better."
Kaidanov said he expected Stanford and Notre Dame to perform well
but is surprised by the Irish's superiority.
"Notre Dame did an excellent job," he said. "Notre
Dame is just a great surprise. They are doing just an unbelievably
good job."
The tournament continues through Sunday.
-- by Geoff Mosher
