Penn State men's gymnastics coach Randy Jepson has said all season that this year's team has been one of his deepest and without their depth they wouldn't be as nearly successful as they have been this season.
On Friday night at St. John Arena in Columbus, Ohio, it was the Lion's depth that propelled them to their first ever Big Ten Championship. In their final rotation of the night, the Lions scored a season-high 37.100 on the floor exercise to clinch the title over two-time defending champion Ohio State with a 220.550. Iowa finished third and Michigan came in fourth with Minnesota and Illinois finishing fifth and sixth respectively. It was the highest first-place championship total since 2000.
"It wasn't our best performance, but it was good enough to win," Jepson said. "A couple of guys had misses, but we were solid when we needed to be."
The Lions displayed a balanced team effort throughout the meet with stellar individual performances. The Lions did not place lower than third in any of the events while taking first on the pommel horse (36.875), high bar (37.250) and tied for first on the rings (36.975).
"Depth was the key for us Friday night," Jepson said. "When one guy would slip up, others came through and I think that made the difference for us."
Junior Kevin Tan finished first on the rings and high bar competitions and second on the pommel horse and third on the parallel bars. On Saturday night Tan captured his second consecutive Big Ten rings title with a 9.725 and was named to the All-Big Ten team. He becomes the first Lion to win an individual Big Ten title and only the second Lion to be named to the All-Big Ten team twice.
"Kevin had a terrific weekend," Jepson said. "He started out with a solid, clean performance on horse and probably did one of the best rings routines that I have seen from him." In addition to Tan's performance, freshman Luis Vargas had an impressive meet in his first Big Ten Championship. Vargas was the best all-around finisher for the Lions with a sixth-place finish and won the parallel bars to contribute to the Lions' victory. Vargas also earned his first All-Big Ten team selection.
"Luis had a very steady performance throughout the competition," Jepson said. "He had one mishap on rings and I believe that if he hadn't missed on rings, he could have won the all-around title."
On Saturday night in the individual event finals, the Lions had a meet-high 15 gymnasts qualify because of solid performances during the team competitions the previous night. Senior captain Jose Palacios, sophomores Ludwig Kern and Steve Tobin and freshman Chad Buczek all had top 10 finishes. Kern scored the highest for the Lions in vault with a 9.300 while senior Kevin Donohue tied for fourth on the floor with a 9.400.
With the Lions winning their first Big Ten title, Jepson earned his first ever conference Coach of the Year honor, but he said its more of a team award and a tribute to his team and his assistants this season.
