Blue White Illustrated

AWARDS WATCH NOTEBOOK GYMNASTICS Lions accomplish goals in exhibition meet The Penn State men's gymnastics team compiled eight perfect-10 scores at the Blue-White Showcase Dec. 14 at Rec Hall, with six of them coming from the Blue squad – including three on the final event of the night to claim a come-from-behind 288.5-288.0 victory. "We had some objectives coming into tonight, and I feel like we passed both of them," head coach Randy Jepson said. The women's squad claimed 12 perfect scores on the night, with the blue squad reeling off three on the final event and seven overall. The Blue-White Showcase featured six guest judges, including four Penn State student-athletes. Joining guest judge contest winners Rebecca Chelberg and Yuka Narisako were Kelsey Amy (field hockey), Bri Garcia (women's soccer), Gary Gilliam (football) and Shane McGregor (football). MEN'S ICE HOCKEY Penn State falls to Robert Morris Sophomore forward Tommy Olczyk and freshman forward Curtis Loik scored one goal each, but Penn State lost to Robert Morris, 3-2, Dec. 15 at the Greenberg Ice Pavilion. The Nittany Lions dropped to 7-8-0 in their final home game of the calendar year. The Nittany Lions outshot Robert Morris, 40-29, but went scoreless on five power play opportunities. Penn State freshman goaltender Matthew Skoff turned aside 26 shots, while Robert Morris goalie Eric Levine made 38 saves. The teams will meet again Dec. 28 when they face off in the Three Rivers Classic at Pittsburgh's CONSOL Energy Center. Opening faceoff is set for 4:30 p.m. here might not be a stronger set of collegiate coaches in the country than the fall sports crew at Penn State. Five Penn State mentors were recently honored as Big Ten Coach of the Year in their respective sports. In addition to football coach Bill O'Brien, the list of honorees includes Bob Warming (men's soccer), Erica Walsh (women's soccer), Russ Rose (women's volleyball) and Charlene Morett (field hockey). Also, Beth Alford-Sullivan (cross country) was named the United States Track and Field/Cross Country Association Mid-Atlantic Region Women's Coach of the Year. Warming's squad led the league with six All-Big Ten selections. Seniors Jacob Barron and John Gallager nabbed first-team laurels, while classmates Julian Cardona and Hasani SinBOB clair and sophomores Owen Griffith and WARMING Andrew Wolverton were named to the second team. Drew Klingenberg earned All-Freshman honors, and Daniel Burnham was named a Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree. Cardona was named a thirdteam Academic All-American by Capital One and the College Sports Information Directors of America. Four of Walsh's players earned individual accolades. Junior Maya Hayes was the conference's Forward of the Year, senior Christine Nairn earned Midfielder of the Year, sophomore Whitney Church was named Defender of the Year and freshman forward Raquel Rodriguez was Penn State Athletic Communications named Big Ten Freshman of the Year. Church, Hayes and Nairn were first-team selections, while Rodriguez, senior goalkeeper Erin McNulty and senior midfielder Maddy Evans were named to the second team. Rose's volleyball team swept the Big Ten postseason awards, including Player of the Year honors, which went to junior Ariel Scott. Sophmore Micha Hancock was tabbed the inaugural Big Ten Setter of the Year and Megan Courtney earned Freshman of the Year laurels. Scott and Hancock later received first-team AVCA All-America notice, while junior Katie Slay was a second-team choice and junior Deja McClendon a third-team pick. Senior Kristin Carpenter was Penn State's Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree. Senior first-team All-American Kelsey Amy, who led the field hockey team to a conference title, finished as the league's Offensive Player of the Year, while junior Brittany Grzywacz was named Defensive Player of the Year. Amy, Grzywacz and sophomore Laura Gebhart earned first-team honors, while junior Ashtin Klingler was named to the second team. T

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