It’s the most exciting weekend of the year. And yes, this is because the 2015 men’s gymnastics Big Ten Championships will be held this Friday and Saturday in Rec Hall.

The Penn State men’s gymnastics team will host seven other schools Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. in hopes of taking home the Big Ten title. Friday night’s competition is the preliminary competition for individual events and is also the finals competition for both team and all-around titles. Those who qualify in Friday’s competition will move on to Saturday evening’s individual events to pursue the honor of being named a Big Ten champion.

Captain Tristan Duverglas explained the mentality of preparing for this competition and emphasized how this preparation is much different than the training for other competitive sports.

“Gymnastics isn’t like most sports. Theres no offense or defense,” he said. “We can’t control how other teams perform. By taking our focus and our energy away from us and putting it on [other teams] we’re only weakening ourselves. We just need to go out there and hit our routines and do our best. We can’t worry about what other teams are doing.”

For the seniors on the men’s side who competed in their senior meet on Feb. 27 against Iowa, it will be their final contest in Rec Hall. For Duverglas, his experience as a Penn State gymnast surpassed his imaginations.

“I went from competing in one event to competing in four. I was elected team captain this year. I didn’t see any of that coming. If you were to ask me as a freshman what my senior year would look like, it wouldn’t have been this. But I’m blessed that it turned out the way it has,” he said.

Senior Craig Hernandez sees the Big Ten Championships as something more than a final meet in Rec Hall.

“Rec Hall is by far my favorite place to compete so I’m happy my last time gets to be one of the biggest stages of men’s collegiate gymnastics. In my entire career at Penn State, I have only lost one competition at Rec Hall [the 2013 NCAA Championships] and that’s the way I want to keep it,” Hernandez explained.

For those interested in watching the spectacle (and if you have yet to witness a Penn State gymnastics meet, I highly suggest you do), tickets are available both at Rec Hall and via 1-800-NITTANY. The tickets are $14 for adults for both Friday and Saturday sessions or $8 for one of the nights. Students and children under the age of 12 can purchase tickets for $8 for both sessions and $5 for a single session.

Image: Mark Selders/GoPSUSports