March 18, 2009
Click here to visit Illinois' Big Ten Championship website!
University Park, Pa. - The 13th-ranked Penn State women's gymnastics team travels to Champaign, Ill., and the campus of the University of Illinois for the 2009 Big Ten Championships on Saturday, March 21 at 2:00 p.m. CT (3:00 p.m. ET). The meet will be televised live on the Big Ten Network and live scoring will be available via a link at www.GoPSUsports.com.
Penn State joins No. 15 Michigan, No. 16 Illinois, No. 17 Minnesota, No. 17 Ohio State, No. 26 Michigan State and No. 27 Iowa for the meet, which will be held at Huff Hall.
Penn State At The Big Ten Championships
Heading into the Big Ten Championships Saturday at Illinois, Penn State ranks first in the league according to the GymInfo poll, with a Regional Qualifying Average of 195.920. Perennial power Michigan ranks second with an RQS of 195.790. The Wolverines have captured the conference title in 15 of the last 17 years. Illinois, the 2008 Big Ten runners-up to Michigan, sits third with an RQS of 195.775.
Penn State, a member of the Big Ten Conference since the 1992 season, has nine second-place finishes and five third-place finishes at the Championship meet during that time span. The Nittany Lions have produced 10 Big Ten Individual Champions with 17 titles, including junior Brandi Personett, who claimed the vault and all-around titles in 2007 and the vault, floor and all-around titles in 2008.
In The Rankings
Below is where Penn State sits in the respective GymInfo rankings for the week of March 16. www.troester.com/gym (Based on Regional Qualifying Average)
National (PSU Rank, Leader)
Team: 195.920 (13th - Georgia, 197.255)
Vault: 49.130 (13th - UCLA, 49.430)
Bars: 49.080 (11th - Georgia, 49.460)
Beam: 48.910 (18th - Georgia, 49.400)
Floor: 48.995 (20th - Utah, 49.300)
Individually in the National Rankings
Brandi Personett is 14th in the all-around with a Regional Qualifying Average of 39.365, and also sits eighth in the nation on vault with a Regional Qualifying Average of 9.910 and ranks fourth in the country on floor with a Regional Qualifying Average of 9.920. Whitney Bencsko ranks 23rd on vault with an RQS of 9.880.
Personett Named GOW For Ninth Time
Junior Brandi Personett was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week on March 16 for the fifth time in 2009 and the ninth time in her career. Personett led the Nittany Lions to their second-highest team road score of the season as Penn State scored a 196.126 to defeat Arizona. Maryland and Yale. She captured her seventh individual all-around title of the season with a 39.425. Personett placed fifth on vault with a 9.850, third on bars with a 9.825, first on beam with a 9.850 and first on floor with a 9.900, her ninth first-place floor finish this season.
For more information on the Penn State women's gymnastics team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.