Signed in as:
filler@godaddy.com
Men’s Gymnastics Rakes in Coaches Honors at 2025 NCAAs
Men’s Gymnastics Rakes in Coaches Honors at 2025 NCAA Championships
University Park, PA. (May 1, 2025) – Penn State men’s gymnastics coaches Randy Jepson, Tony Beck, and Carlos Vazquez were all honored by the Collegiate Gymnastics Association (CGA) and the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) at the 2025 NCAA Banquet.
Head coach Randy Jepson was named the CGA Central Region Head Coach of the Year. Assistant coaches Beck and Vazquez each earned the CGA Central Region Assistant Coach of the Year honors.
In addition to the regional honors, Vazquez was named a the CGA Honor Coach, an award which recognizes a member-coach of twenty-five years or more who has gained the admiration of his coaching associates. The award reads as follows: “In recognition of his service in coaching and developing gymnastics for over twenty-five years. He has gained the respect of his associates in the gymnastics world by his inspiring example and accomplishments.” The Honor Coach Award Committee selects the recipient of this award each year by a secret ballot. The chairman presents this, the most prestigious of all gymnastics coaches’ awards, at the banquet prior to the NCAA Championship.
The Penn State coaching staff guided the team to a 6-1 record in the 2025 season, culminating in the team’s first Big Ten regular season title with the 329.050-328.850 win over Nebraska on Senior Day. Under their guidance, the Nittany Lions went on to finish second at the Big Ten Championships and posted the best team finish in nine years at the 2025 NCAA Championships.
2025 NC Men’s Gymnastics Championships
ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Penn State men’s gymnastics finished fifth at the 2025 NC Men’s Gymnastics Championships. The finish marks the best for the Nittany Lions since the 2016 season, when the team also place fifth overall.
The Saturday rotations began on the still rings for the Nittany Lions. Josh Karnes opened the evening matching his season high on the apparatus with a 13.100. Akseli Karsikas kept up the pace with a 13.600, marking a new season-best for the sophomore. Ian Raubal, who finished 11th overall on the rings, posted the Nittany Lions top score of 13.833 on the event.
Graduate student Kellen Ryan led the way on vault in his first-ever NC Men’s Gymnastics Championship, posting a team-high 14.033 on his launch. Landon Simpson and Matt Cormier followed closely behind, tallying a 14.000 and 13.900, respectively.
Senior Josh Karnes earned his first of two All-American recognitions on the parallel bars, putting up a 13.900 on the apparatus. Junior Ian Raubal narrowly missed the All-American cut with a 12th-place finish on his 13.666 routine.
For the first time all season, Penn State faced real adversity on the high bar. Only Matt Cormier hit on his routine, posting a 13.033 to finish 22nd in his final collegiate meet and tally a new season best on the high bar.
Karnes again posted the top PSU score, this time on floor where he finished 13th overall on a 13.633 routine. Karsikas earned a stick on his last pass to boost his score to a 13.533 and finish 18th overall.
The Nittany Lions closed out the night on the pommel horse, where junior Kacper Garnczarek posted a career-high 13.766 routine, but the Poland native was edged out on All-American status due to a lower start value from Nebraska’s Taylor Christopulos, the 2025 Nissen-Emery Award winner. Josh Karnes, Ethan Dick, and Landon Simpson all followed, each tallying a score above 13.200.
Karnes scores across the session totaled to 80.232, and the senior finished sixth overall in his first All-Around of the season. For his efforts, he earned his third consecutive All-Around All-American nod
No. 5 Men’s Gymnastics Finishes Second at Big Ten Team Championships On the Back of 11 Sticks
Seven Nittany Lions advance to Saturday’s individual finals to compete in 13 different routines.
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – A slow start in the Crisler Center was wiped out by 11 sticks from the Nittany Lions as the team posted a 323.850 at the 2025 Big Ten Team Championships, good for a second-place finish. The silver-medal matches the best finish by PSU since the team won the Championships in 2019.
Junior Ian Raubal won two event titles to ensure his spot in tomorrow’s rings and parallel bars individual finals. Seven Nittany Lions advanced to tomorrow’s individual finals. They will put on 13 different routines across the six apparatuses.
Penn State began its evening on pommel horse, where senior Ethan Dick posted a 13.550, a new season high. The score finished sixth best on the evening, earing Dick a spot in the individual finals. Josh Karnes also advanced to Saturday with an eighth-place finish on a 13.350. Despite the two qualifiers, Penn State ranked fourth as a team after one rotation.
Raubal posted a season-high 14.050 on rings to earn the event title, while Matt Underhill grabbed a 13.700 to finish seventh. The pair advanced to the individual finals with their top ten finishes, but PSU still sat in fourth after the first two rotations, 2.750 shy of third-place Michigan.
Penn State made its first move on the vault. Matt Cormier and Matt Underhill each stuck their landings, matching each other’s 14.450 score, good for fourth overall. At the time of the third rotation, Cormier and Underhill were the only two to stick the dismounts. The pair advanced to Saturday’s finals while boost the Nittany Lions as a team to third place.
Penn State’s best apparatus of the day was the team’s fourth rotation. The Nittany Lions earned three spots in the top ten of the parallel bars to send three gymnasts to Saturday’s individual finals. Raubal grabbed is second title of the day with a season-best 14.600 routine. Cormier finished seventh overall with his 14.000 routine on a stuck landing, just shy of his season best mark at 14.050. Karnes rounded out the top ten with a 13.850 to claim his second advancement to the individual championships. The routines advanced Penn State another spot as a team moved to second place.
The Blue and White looked to keep the momentum going on the high bars as the team ranked third in the country on the apparatus heading into the weekend. A rare fall by Karnes kept the Nissen-Emery finalist out of the individual championships for one of his top events. Akseli Karsikas had a strong second-place routine to secure his spot though, posting a 13.600. Cormier also advanced with a 13.450 routine, good for fifth overall. The Nittany Lions remained in second heading into the final rotation.
Finishing the night on floor, Penn State would need all the sticks it could get to maintain the silver-medal finish. Michael Artlip and Cormier made sure of it, both sticking the landing to get enough bonus points to hang on to second place. Cormier finished fourth overall with a 14.050 routine, a new season best. Artlip followed with a seventh-place finish on a 13.800 score, also marking a season-high.