Jan. 4, 2014
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; January 4, 2014 - Penn State's women's gymnastics program will open their 2014 season on Sunday, Jan. 5 when they travel to Ames, Iowa to face off with Iowa State at Hilton Coliseum.
Fourth year head coach Jeff Thompson's squad returns 10 gymnasts with competition experience, while adding three freshman and one transfer student-athlete to a roster that enters the season ranked No. 15 in the GymInfo preseason rankings.
Seniors Lindsay Musgrove (League City, Texas) and Kassidy Stauder (Palmerton, Pa.) return to lead the veteran squad that also features four juniors and four sophomores returning with experience. Thompson's squad welcomes freshmen Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.), Tina Postiglione (Selden, N.Y.) and Emma Sibson (Allen, Texas), along with junior Randi Lau (Honolulu, Hawaii), who joins the team after transferring from LSU.
Junior Sidney Sanabria-Robles (Caguas, Puerto Rico) is the top returning all-arounder from the 2013 season, with junior Krystal Welsh (Bowie, Md.) getting back into the fold in every event after competing on just two events due to injury last season. Sanabria-Robles boasted her top all-around score of 39.100 in a quad-meet with Iowa, Pittsburgh and Rutgers. Welsh's career-best score of 39.150 is the top returning score on the team, a mark she set in a quad-meet at North Carolina State.
Penn State could have one of the strongest vault lineups in the Big Ten this season. The Blue and White return of four of their top six performers from a season ago, get the services of Welsh back after injury in 2013 and add Lau, who ranked 29th nationally last season with a 9.896 average on the vault, and Sibson, who won the 2010 Junior Olympic National Championships title on the event.
Sophomore Samantha Musto (Mays Landing, N.J.) is the top returner on the uneven bars, a lineup that returns four of the top six performers from last season, as well. Along with Musto, Sanabria-Robles, Stauder and Welsh were all major contributors on the event last season and will remain in the lineup this season.
Even with the loss of Sharaya Musser to graduation, the Nittany Lions balance beam lineup might be one of the strongest on the squad. Penn State adds three-time Junior Olympic National Champion freshman Nicole Medvitz to an already solid rotation.
Junior Lexi Carroll (Olney, Md.) topped the floor exercise charts last season for the Nittany Lions and is top returner on vault entering 2014, as well. Carroll, along with Musgrove and Stauder anchor the floor exercise lineup, while Sanabria-Robles and Welsh will both compete in the event.
For information on purchasing 2014 season tickets or Big Ten and NCAA Regional Championship tickets fans can visit http://www.gopsusports.com/tickets/w-gym-tickets.html or call 1-800-NITTANY weekdays from 8 a.m.-5 p.m.
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