April 10, 2012
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - Penn State junior women's gymnast Sharaya Musser (Colorado Springs, Colo.) is set to represent the Nittany Lions at the 2012 NCAA National Championships on April 20-22 in Duluth, Ga. Musser qualified as an individual all-around competitor after finishing third in the all-around at the NCAA Northeast Regional on April 7 at N.C. State.
Musser will compete in the second session of the NCAA Championships slated for Friday, April 20 at 6 p.m. in the Gwinnett Center. Musser, who will compete with Florida, will open the meet on bars before a bye. In rotation three, Musser and the Gators will compete on the uneven bars and moved to beam for the fourth rotation. After a second bye, she will conclude session II on floor.
The 2012 Big Ten Gymnast of the year and Northeast Region Gymnast of the Year, Musser was one of three individual all-around competitors to earn a 39.450 at regionals to lead the pool of 12 individual qualifiers. While aiding Penn State to a fourth place finish at regionals, Musser placed in the top four on three of the four events, including third on vault and beam and fourth on bars. A First Team All-Big Ten selection and six-time Big Ten Gymnast of the Week, this will be her third straight appearance at Nationals. A consistent threat for the Nittany Lions, Musser won the all-around in 10 of 12 meets prior to regionals and finished in the top four in the other two. Heading into regionals, Musser ranked second nationally in the all-around and in the top five on vault and beam.
The women's gymnastics championships consist of 12 teams and 12 all-around competitors, who are not on a qualifying team, and individual event specialists. The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors from each of the six regionals have advanced to the national championships.
Team semifinal and all-around competitor will be conducted in two sessions on Friday, April 20 at noon and 6 p.m. ET. The top three teams from each semifinal will advance to the Super Six competition on Saturday, April 21 at 4 p.m. The top four individuals in each event (plus ties) from Friday's semifinals will compete in the individual-event competition on Sunday, April 22 at 1 p.m.
The Penn State women's gymnastics team is on Twitter. Follow @PSUGym for the inside scoop. You can also find updates on the Nittany Lion gymnasts at GoPSUsports.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pennstatewomensgymnastics.