March 28, 2008
ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Three Penn State women's gymnasts have earned All-Big Ten honors, it was announced at the Big Ten Championships banquet Friday night in Ann Arbor, Mich. Sophomore Brandi Personett (Katy, Texas) earned First Team honors while senior Aslynn Satterfield (Boalsburg, Pa.) and sophomore Alexandra Brockway (Macungie, Pa.) picked up Second Team accolades.
The awards mark the 39th, 40th and 41st total All-Big Ten honors for the Nittany Lions since joining the league for the 1992 season. It is the first career award for Brockway and the second for Satterfield, who also earned Second Team honors during her sophomore season in 2006. It is also Personett's second straight First Team honor.
The Big Ten Gymnast of the Year, Freshman of the Year and Coach of the Year honorees will be announced at the conclusion of the Big Ten Championships, which begin on Saturday, March 29 at 2:15 p.m. ET in Ann Arbor, Mich.
Personett, last year's Big Ten Freshman of the Year, enters the Big Ten Championships as the conference leader on the floor with an average of 9.905. The reigning Big Ten Vault and All-Around champion, Personett has competed in the all-around in every meet of the year, the only Penn State gymnast to do so. She has eight individual floor titles this season and has scored a 9.900 or better on the floor in nine of 11 meets of the year. On vault, Personett scored a career-high 9.975 on Feb. 2, the second-highest vault score in Penn State history. Last weekend in the all-around, she recorded a career-high 39.525, the ninth-best score in the Lion annals. Personett holds the top individual scores in three of the four events (vault - 9.975, beam - 9.900 and floor - 9.950) and in the all-around (39.525).
"Brandi has done a great job for us this year, and she's just a great girl," said head coach Steve Shephard in the Big Ten Championships Coaches Press Conference on Friday. "She's a hard worker and a really nice person to be around. She does a great job challenging herself. She's worked hard on being confident in herself, which is one of the things she's struggled with, and as only a sophomore, we're really looking forward to having her for two more years."
Brockway has been a mainstay in the Nittany Lion lineup, missing only one meet due to illness. She holds the top score on the team on the uneven bars, a career-high 9.900 which she recorded on Feb. 2. Brockway has eight top-five finishes on bars, claiming five individual titles, and has also produced six top-five awards on beam. She has recorded career highs in three of the four events this season and also set her career-best all-around mark of 39.125 on Feb. 2. In that meet, she also claimed the individual all-around title along with the Ann Carr Award as the most inspirational gymnast of the evening.
Satterfield is one of two seniors on the Nittany Lion squad and has been a steady force in both the vault and floor lineups all year. She has competed both events in 10 out of 11 meets, earning six top-five finishes on vault and nine top-five finishes on floor. She set her career high mark of 9.875 on vault on March 1, earning her both first place in the event as well as the Ann Carr Award. Her personal best on floor was also set this season, a first-place 9.900 on Feb. 2. For the season Satterfield is averaging a 9.775 on vault and a 9.840 on floor.
Penn State will open the 2008 Big Ten Championships on bars, followed by a bye in the second rotation. In the third rotation, the Nittany Lions will compete beam and then have another bye before performing on floor in the fifth rotation. Follow a bye in the sixth rotation, Penn State will end the meet on vault.
"We have a young team and we've just been trying to improve all year," said Shephard. "I think the conference has been really strong this year, and I think that's great because it shows what we're capable of. We always want to compete against excellent competition."
The Big Ten Network will air the Championships on a tape-delay basis on Thursday, April 3 at 8:00 p.m. Live scoring will be available via a link at www.GoPSUsports.com.
Penn State and Rec Hall will host one of the six NCAA Regional Championships on Saturday, April 12 beginning at 6:00 p.m. Pairings for Regionals will be announced on Monday, March 31. Tickets for the event are available at the Bryce Jordan Center ticket office and will be on sale at the door the day of the event.
For more information on the Penn State women's gymnastics team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.