Oct. 27, 2011
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team is hosting a "Monster Mash - Clash of the Colors Intra-squad" on Friday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. in the gymnastics practice facility in the White Building. Family, friends and fans are invited to come watch the team.
"We've always done a Halloween workout, but after the `five minutes of everyone laughing at each other' is over, it's just another workout," said head coach Jeff Thompson. "Rachelle, Jillian and Randy came up with the idea to do something fun for the whole week, a week-long contest."
The "Monster Mash" intra-squad is the final event after a week of Halloween fun for the Penn State women's gymnastics team. The squad was divided into two teams, Orange and Black. Each day of the week was assigned a theme, including "Pick A Decade" (Monday), "Goth Day" (Tuesday) and "Revenge of the Nerds" (Thursday). The team that represented the daily theme the best earned 10 points towards their total for the week.
"Every day we have dressed up to a given theme," said sophomore Kristin Blades. "Since today is `Revenge of the Nerds', we'll all be decked out in suspenders and high top socks. Practices have been going well all week so it should be a tight finish tomorrow at the intra-squad!"
The two groups also earned points for having the most spirit each day at practice, sticking landings on vault, hitting handstands on bars, having wobble-free routines on beam and for exceptional style on floor. At the end of each practice, the team with the most points for the day earned the chance to "Trick or Treat". Treats included a day off from conditioning, while an example of a trick was giving 20 points to the opposing team.
After the "Monster Mash" intra-squad on Friday, the final points will be tallied. The team with the winning total gets a home cooked dinner by the losing team.
"It's been a really fun week for us," said senior Whitney Bencsko. "We have all gotten into the themes and enjoyed marching upstairs together in our awesome costumes. The coaches have been amusing too! The energy in the gym has been great and we look forward to successful intra-squad tomorrow when we're all decked out in our black and orange!"
The Penn State women's gymnastics team hosts four meets in Rec Hall in 2012. The Nittany Lions open the 2012 slate in a tri-meet at West Virginia with Maryland on Jan. 8, before traveling to New Hampshire on Jan. 14. The Lions welcome Michigan State, Cornell and Alabama to Rec Hall on Jan. 21 for their home opener.
Head coach Jeff Thompson and associate head coach Rachelle Thompson welcome back 10 letterwinners from the 2011 season, including first team All-Big Ten honorees Sharaya Musser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and Natalie Ettl (Waukesha, Wis.) and second team All-Big Ten selection Madison Merriam (Gaithersburg, Md.). The Nittany Lions welcome the addition of three newcomers, including freshmen Lexi Carroll (Olney, Md.), Krystal Welsh (Bowie, Md.) and Alex Witt (Odessa, Fla.).