Feb. 1, 2014
 195.625 No. 21 Ohio State (1-4, 0-2 Big Ten) |
Columbus, Ohio • St. John Arena • Attendance: 1,521 |   196.150 Penn State (8-1, 2-0 Big Ten) |
COLUMBUS, Ohio; February 1, 2014 - The No. 24 Penn State women's gymnastics claimed a tightly contested meet at No. 21 Ohio State on Saturday afternoon inside St. John Arena. The Nittany Lions held a slim 0.050 edge entering the final event, but bettered the Buckeyes by nearly one-half of a point in the final rotation to claim their second straight Big Ten victory, 196.150-195.625.
"I feel like we grew up a lot today with a big win on the road," said head coach Jeff Thompson. "Our goal was to open and finish on every event and open the meet strong and finish just as strong. I feel like we did that very well today. It was a tight meet all the way through and with us finishing on beam, our girls knew they had to be outstanding under pressure and they were. We hit all 24 of our routines today and did what we had to do on the beam to get a big win."
The Nittany Lions put together a solid showing that included four gymnasts with scores of 39.000 in the all-around and three gymnasts tied for individual event titles.
Junior Sidney Sanabria-Robles (Caguas, Puerto Rico) set a personal best for the second straight week with a score of 39.275 to finish second overall, while Kassidy Stauder (Palmerton, Pa.) and Krystal Welsh (Bowie, Md.) both compiled all-around scores of 39.250 to tie for third. Junior Randi Lau (Honolulu, Hawaii) also completed the all-around competition and nailed a 39.000 score vs. the Buckeyes.
"Sidney was our top all-around performer today and set a new career-best," said Thompson. "She didn't stick two of her landings, so for her to score a career-best was big and, even more important for our team, she has room for improvement as she moves forward."
Stauder and Welsh each tied for the event crown on the uneven bars with identical scores of 9.850, while Stauder tied with Ohio State's Sarah Miller for the balance beam title with a mark of 9.875. Stauder has now logged six individual event wins, claiming the uneven bars and balance beam titles in each of the last two meets.
Sanabria-Robles notched scores of 9.800 or better on all four events, including a career-best showing of 9.850 on the balance beam. She scored 9.800 on the vault and floor exercise and added a 9.825 on the uneven bars to open the meet.
Lau boasted her best vault of the season at 9.850 to finish runner-up on the event, while Welsh and freshman Emma Sibson (Allen, Texas) each logged 9.825 marks to finish tied for third in the event.
Sibson also posted a career-best score of 9.800 on the balance beam and competed on the floor exercise for the second time in her career, scoring 9.775.
Lindsay Musgrove (League City, Texas) continued her solid start to the season by opening the meet with a 9.775 on the vault and then adding a team-best 9.850 on the floor exercise during the third rotation. Welsh also boasted a score of 9.850 on the floor exercise.
Penn State will return home for their first double dual of the season on Saturday, Feb. 8 when they host No. 8 Nebraska at 4 p.m. inside Rec Hall. The men's squad will host Temple.
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.
Follow Penn State women's gymnastics on Facebook by clicking here or on Twitter by clicking here. Stay up to date with any of our 31 varsity programs on all of your favorite social media platforms by clicking here.