Feb. 28, 2014
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1st of 4 Bridgeport, Western Michigan & Yale |
University Park, Pa. • Rec Hall • Attendance: 1,236 | 196.600 Penn State (6-1) |
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; February 28, 2014 - A former Yale professor once said, `We should not judge people by their peak of excellence; but by the distance they have traveled from the point where they started.' That is a fitting statement for the seniors on the 2014 Penn State women's gymnastics team as they wrapped up the regular season home schedule at Rec Hall on Friday night.
Lindsay Musgrove (League City, Texas) and Kassidy Stauder (Palmerton, Pa.) both made an incredible impact in the No. 18 Nittany Lions victory in their final regular season home competition with a score of 196.600. They bested Western Michigan (193.625), Bridgeport (193.500) and Yale (188.525).
The team score was the second highest of the season, trailing only the 196.675 against No. 15 Illinois from earlier this season, and posted the highest score on all four events. They set new season-highs on the first two events with a 49.225 on the uneven bars and a 49.325 on the vault. Penn State also scored 49.075 on the balance beam and 48.975 on the floor exercise.
The team score on the vault was even more impressive when you find out that the Nittany Lions had just five of the allotted six gymnasts compete due to injury and posted the 10th highest score in school history on the event.
Musgrove set the tone for the evening on the first vault, sticking her landing and posting a season-best score of 9.850. Stauder equaled Musgrove's effort with a 9.850 to set a new career-high on the event and finish in a tie for fourth on the event.
A trio of Nittany Lions tied for the event title, as Sidney Sanabria-Robles (Caguas, Puerto Rico), Emma Sibson (Allen, Texas) and Krystal Welsh (Bowie, Md.) all score 9.875 on the vault.
Stauder kept her momentum up throughout the evening and posted a 9.925 to win the uneven bars title and followed that with a 9.850 on the balance beam to tie for the event title with freshman teammate Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.). She finished the night with a 9.800 on the floor exercise to tie for second on the event.
The senior totaled 39.425 in the all-around to win the event by two-tenths of a point and set a new career-best for the fourth time this season. Sanabria-Robles finished second in the all-around at 39.225 and Welsh finished third in the competition at 39.200.
On the uneven bars, junior Alex Witt (Odessa, Fla.) placed second with a career-best score of 9.875 in her first competition of the season, earning the Ann Carr Award for the most inspirational performance of the meet. Witt had missed every meet this season due to injury, but stepped into the lineup and helped the Nittany Lions sweep the top three spots on the event. Samantha Musto (Hammonton, N.J.) finished third at 9.850 and Welsh finished fourth at 9.800.
Medvitz and Stauder led the way on the balance beam, tying for the event title, but Emma Sibson finished third with a career-best showing of 9.825 on the event. Sanabria-Robles was able to place fourth at 9.800 and Lexi Carroll (Olney, Md.) and Welsh tied for sixth with a score of 9.750.
Musgrove also put an exclamation point on the meet when she posted a score of 9.850 to win the floor exercise. Stauder tied for second with teammate Welsh at 9.800 to help Penn State sweep the top three spots on all four apparatus.
Penn State will hit the road for two straight meets to close out the regular season, starting on March 8 in a quad meet at New Hampshire w/Bridgeport & George Washington. A quad meet at No. 8 Michigan with Iowa and No. 12 Minnesota on Saturday, March 15 closes out the season. The quad meet in Ann Arbor will air live on the Big Ten Network at 1:30.
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