Penn State men’s gymnastics roster preview 2025 | Penn State Men’s Gymnastics News

Penn State men’s gymnastics opens up its season with an away competition at West Point on January 10 for an all day event.

The Nittany Lions enter the season building on their roster from last year, with 13 of their 14 gymnasts returning to Penn State.

The blue and white finished its season placing 4th in the NCAA Championship qualifier which didn’t land them a team spot in the Championship itself.

The Nittany Lions hope to turn it around this season as they enter the year ranked fourth in the Big Ten gymnastics preseason poll.

Graduate Students

Michael Artlip, Matt Cormier, Ethan Dick and Michael Jorah are the four gymnasts who returned for their graduate season.

Artlip enters the 2025 season after becoming a CGA regular season All-American in the all-around event and earned a spot on the All-Big Ten first team.

In 2024, Artlip was a key part of the blue and white as he placed top three in multiple events through the year. The Bellaire, Texas, native set career highs in all of his events other than pommel, rings and H-Bar.

Matt Cormier comes into the year being named one of ten players to watch this season after being named captain of the team for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

The Milton Massachusetts native competed in all seven events during his sophomore and junior seasons, but dropped the rings, vault and all-around events during his senior year.

Dick was named academic All-Big 10 and competed in all but two events in the 2024 season. During the 2024 season, Dick slowly focused his attention to the pommel horse after starting the season competing on the bars. He tallied his first pommel horse victory in a meet against Ohio State before competing on the pommel for the NCAA championship.

Jorah has competed in all seven events through his first four years at Penn State. While he’s competed in all events during his time at Penn State, he found the most success with the pommel horse and the high bar, as he was named pommel horse all-american in 2021 and won the Big Ten high bar championship in 2024.

Seniors

Penn State enters the 2025 season with two seniors on the roster, one of which being Josh Karnes. Karnes, like Cormier, has also been placed on the list of players to watch for the upcoming year.

Karnes competed in all seven events in 2024 but truly shined in the parallel bars event as he won the Big 10 Championship in the event in 2023.

Derek Schlagenhauf had been the pommel horse specialist for the Nittany Lions for his first three years and set his career high in his sophomore season. His best finish in the 2024 season was second place in a meet against Springfield.

Juniors

Will Fleck is one of four juniors competing for the Nittany Lions in the 2025 season. After competing in all seven events during the 2023 season, Fleck cut down in the 2024 season and focused on floor, pommel horse and H-Bar during the 2024 year.

Fleck’s main event is floor, as he won the Virginia state championship during his time in high school and he remains integral to the Penn State floor routine for the upcoming year.

Kacper Garnczarek comes into the 2025 season after setting career highs in the four events he participated in last year. He placed fifth in the parallel bars for team Poland during the 2024 FIG World Challenge Cup.

Garnczarek competed in all seven events during his freshman year, however, going into his sophomore year he dropped three and truly focused his attention to the parallel bar event, improving his score in the event by 1.250 from his freshman to sophomore season.

Ian Raubal was named team captain last year in his sophomore season after being named a Big Ten Gymnast to watch.

The Swiss native dropped the all-around event in the 2024 season and had top three finishes in several events throughout the season. Raubal’s top two events going into the 2025 season are the rings and the parallel bars.

Matt Underhill earned an All-American nod in his freshman season for the still rings and set a career high for the floor in the 2024 season. Underhill flourished most in the vault and the rings and has a chance to build on his 2024 year as he placed in the finals of the NCAA Championship for the vault.

Sophomores

Luke Esparo competed in all but one event during his freshman year and earned the Big Ten Freshman of the week three times throughout the year.

Esparo was also named a CGA regular season All-American last year and his top event for the Nittany Lions is the rings as he placed first in the event at his first collegiate meet before eventually making a NCAA Championship finals appearance for the event.

Akseli Karsikas made his debut for the Nittany Lions on the rings last season as he scored a 12.800. Despite his debut appearance happening on the rings, Karsikas found a rhythm with the high bar as he competed in the NCAA preliminaries for the event.

Before coming to Penn State, Karsikas competed for the Finland National team and was a part of the 2022 world championship team.

Landon Simpson grabbed first place on the pommel horse during his collegiate debut and was named Big 10 Freshman of the Week for his performance. Simpson competed in three events — the pommel, vault and parallel bars in the Big 10 championship — and he will continue to compete in these events for the 2025 year.

Freshmen

The first and only freshman gymnast for the Nittany Lions is Bobby Alessio.

Before coming to Penn State, Alessio competed for Meadowlands Gymnastics Academy and was a nine-time New Jersey All-Around State Champion. As the only freshman on the team this season, Alessio will look to find his place as he builds on the success he found prior to Penn State.

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