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MIDGET CONTINUED FROM 35 NOTEBOOK MEN���S GYMNASTICS Lions finish second at Big Ten meet Penn State finished second in the team and all-around portion of the Big Ten championships April 5 at Minnesota. The top-ranked Nittany Lions finished behind Michigan with a team point total of 434.050. Penn State topped the team scores on the pommel horse and still rings, while placing second on the vault. The Lions��� pommel horse score of 71.950 was more than two points better than their nearest competitor. Sophomore Craig Hernandez shined during the individual finals the next day, claiming his second consecutive pommel horse championship. Penn State also picked up the Big Ten Freshman of the Year award when Trevor Howard earned the top rookie honors. WOMEN���S GYMNASTICS Musser earns spot at NCAA championships The 14th-ranked Nittany Lions earned a score of 195.875 to finish fourth in the Norman (Okla.) Regional on April 6. Senior Sharaya Musser finished with a score of 39.375 to tie for second place in the all-around and earn a berth in the NCAA championships in Los Angeles April 19-21. WOMEN���S LACROSSE Penn State falls at Northwestern Seventh-ranked Penn State fell to No. 3 Northwestern, 11-3, at Lakeside Field in Evanston, Ill., on April 5. The Nittany Lions fell to 7-4 overall and 2-1 in ALC play. Senior Molly Fernandez and sophomores Tatum Coffey and Kelly Lechner tallied one goal each, but the Nittany Lions��� 10th-ranked offense was unable to solve an aggressive Wildcat defense. On March 30, the team had one of its biggest victories in recent years when it rallied from a three-goal halftime deficit to defeat No. 2 Florida, 16-11. It was Penn State���s firstever victory over the Gators. MEN���S LACROSSE Second-half surge lifts PSU past Drexel The No. 13 Nittany Lions employed a 7-0 second-half run to defeat No. 12 Drexel, 13-6, in front of a record crowd of 1,007 at Penn State Lacrosse Field on April 6. Attackmen Jack Forster and T.J. Sanders tallied four goals apiece, and goalkeeper Austin Kaut saved 13 shots, as the Lions improved to 8-3 overall and 3-1 in the CAA. Penn State honored seven decades of lacrosse alumni who came back for the 100th Season Celebration. The Nittany Lions wore special gray uniforms and commemorated the 100th season of Penn State men���s lacrosse at halftime with a parade of alumni on the field. FENCING Lions place third at NCAA tournament The Nittany Lions finished third at the NCAA championships March 2124 at San Antonio, Texas. Eight Penn State fencers took home AllAmerica honors. Olympian Miles Chamley-Watson and 2010 national champion Margherita Guzzi Vincenti each claimed their fourth All-America title thanks to their third-place finishes at NCAAs. The two fencers join the elite ranks of those who have earned All-America nods in each year they have competed at Penn State. Falcons and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He has coached at Lake Worth High School in Florida, Virginia Tech and Georgia State. That experience has helped Midget develop an eye for the minutia of the position. His players at Penn State are already benefitting from his attention to detail. ���It might just be a little thing that he sees in somebody���s technique or their footwork or in their eye discipline and things like that that other coaches can���t see just because they haven���t experienced it like he has,��� Willis said. Midget said he doesn���t know yet whether he will be coaching from the press box or on the field on Saturdays. He does know that his recruiting assignments will include South Florida and the greater Cleveland area, but this spring he has been focused on meshing his on-field coaching style with that of his new colleagues. ���I���m just energetic. I coach with a lot of passion,��� he said. ���If you come watch me coach, that���s probably what you���ll see. Coach Butler is the same way, so I think it���s just a great fit with both of us back there. ���To me, you have to be demanding to get what you want, but at the end of the day, when we walk off the field, we���re able to take that and turn the switch off and be able to be mentors or whatever we need to be for the players. But when we���re on the field, we���re very energetic and very demanding and high-energy coaches that just love the game. It just shows the way we coach.���

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