March 17, 2011
Championship Central
Complete release in pdf formant
Pre-Meet Interviews
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The 10th-ranked Penn State women's gymnastics team travels to Minneapolis, Minn. and the campus of The University of Minnesota for the 2011 Big Ten championships on Saturday, March 19. Action is set for 3 p.m. ET. The meet will be televised live on the Big Ten Network and live scoring will be available via a link at GoPSUsports.com.
Penn State joins No. 9 Michigan, No. 14 Iowa, No. 15 Ohio State, No. 16 Illinois, No. 21 Minnesota and Michigan State for the meet, which will be held at the Sports Pavilion.
Penn State at the Big Ten Championship
Heading into the Big Ten Championships at Minnesota on Saturday, Penn State ranks second in the conference according to the GymInfo poll, with a Regional Qualifying Score of 196.045. Michigan leads the league with an RQS of 196.320 and Iowa is third at 195.820. The Wolverines have captured the conference title the 17 of the last 19 years.
Penn State, a member of the Big Ten Conference since the 1992 season, has 10 second place finishes and six third place finishes at the championship meet during that time span. Penn State has produced 11 Big Ten Individual Champions earning 21 titles, including junior Natalie Ettl. Ettl claimed the uneven bars title in 2010.
In The Rankings
Below is where Penn State sits in the respective GymInfo rankings for the week of March 14 (Based on Regional Qualifying Score).
Team: 196,045 (10th, Florida - 197.170)
Vault: 49.030 (19th, Alabama - 49.395)
Bars: 49.180 (9th, Oregon State - 49.340)
Beam: 49.000 (12th, Florida - 49.255)
Floor: 49.040 (18th, Florida - 49.325)
Individually in the National Rankings
Sophomore Sharaya Musser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) leads the nation in the all-around with a RQS of 39.515. She also ranks tied for fourth on vault (RQS - 9.915), tied for 23rd on bars (RQS - 9.865), second on beam (RQS - 9.905) and tied for 11th on floor (RQS - 9.880). Junior Natalie Ettl (Waukesha, Wis.) is also ranked nationally on bars, sitting third in the ranks with an RQS of 9.910.