March 26, 2010
COLUMBUS, Ohio - Three Penn State women's gymnasts have earned All-Big Ten honors, conference officials announced at the Big Ten Championships banquet Friday night in Columbus, Ohio. Senior Brandi Personett (Katy, Texas) and freshman Sharaya Musser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) earned First Team honors, while sophomore Natalie Ettl (Waukesha, Wis.) was named to the second team. Ettl was also Penn State's honoree for the Sportsmanship Award.
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 27 at 2 p.m. at Ohio State's St. John Arena. The meet will be televised live on the Big Ten Network and live scoring will be available via a link at GoPSUsports.com.
This is Personett's fourth selection to the All-Big Ten first team. She is the second Nittany Lion to earn first team honors every year of her career. An NACGC/W All-American on floor, she heads into Saturday's championship meet as the defending Big Ten floor champion. She ranks first in the conference on vault with a regional qualifying score of 9.935, beam with an RQS of 9.885, floor with a 9.925 and in the all-around with a 39.495. Personett has competed in the all-around in all 11 meets this season and has placed in the top five each time with six titles, including a career-best 39.700. On vault, Personett has won six titles and became the first Penn State gymnast to score a 10.0 on the event since 2003, not once but twice. On bars she has finished in the top five seven times and has taken top honors on beam on six occasions. Personett has finished first on floor in 10 meets this season and tied her personal-best on the event with a 9.950 twice. She is a five-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Week in 2010 and holds the top individual event marks in three of the four events (vault - 10.0, beam - 9.950, floor - 9.950) and the all-around (39.700).
Musser has been one of Penn State's top performers in her first collegiate season. She has competed in every meet this season on vault and bars, 10 meets on beam and five on floor and in the all-around. Musser has finished in the top five on vault 10 times, including earning three titles in the last four meets of the regular season. She has also been equally as impressive on bars with eight top five finishes and beam with five, including four titles. After taking top honors on vault (9.975), beam (9.825) and in the all-around with a 39.600 in a quad meet with Maryland, Michigan and Bridgeport, Musser was named the Big Ten Gymnast and Freshman of the Week. She was also selected as the Big Ten Freshman of the Week on two other occasions, most recently on March 22.
This is the first honor of Ettl's career. An uneven bars specialist, Ettl leads the Big Ten with an RQS of 9.895. She has finished in the top three eight times this season taking home four titles. Against Illinois, Ettl scored a career-high 9.950 and repeated the performance against Maryland, Michigan and Bridgeport on March 7. Her personal-best score of 9.950 is the top mark on the event among the Nittany Lions this season. As the recipient of the Sportsmanship Award, Ettl was honored for distinguishing herself among her teammates for her sportsmanship and ethical behavior. She is now a candidate for the Big Ten Sportsmanship Award, which will be announced at the end of the school year.
For more information on the Penn State women's gymnastics team, please visit GoPSUsports.com.