March 10, 2014
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; March 10, 2014 - The No. 15 Penn State women's gymnastics team claimed their second straight Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor and third of the season as freshman Emma Sibson (Allen, Texas) claimed back-to-back honors from the conference office on Monday (March 10) for her efforts last Saturday afternoon in a quad meet win at New Hampshire with Bridgeport and George Washington.
It is the second career weekly Big Ten honor for Sibson, who also earned the Freshman of the Week distinction last weekend after a solid showing in a quad meet with Bridgeport, Western Michigan and Yale.
"We are really excited for Emma to receive this honor for the second straight week," said head coach Jeff Thompson. "We are happy to see that she continues to progress and compete at a high level as a collegiate gymnast. She has gotten stronger and stronger each week and we cannot wait to see what the next few weeks hold for her."
Sibson became just the second Penn State gymnast to post a score of 9.900 or better on two different events this season when she scored 9.975 on the vault and 9.900 on the floor exercise. Her score on the vault was good enough to win the event title - her third on the season - and she placed second on the floor exercise behind teammate Lindsay Musgrove (League City, Texas).
She also narrowly missed a career-best score on the balance beam at 9.800, falling just shy of the 9.825 which she scored last weekend.
On the season, Sibson tops the team's vault charts, owning the top two scores on the season at 9.975 from last weekend at 9.950 from Feb. 8 vs. No. 8 Nebraska. She also ranks third on the team on the floor exercise and fifth on the squad on the balance beam.
Her vault score currently ranks tied for fifth in school history and is tied for the second best score in the Big Ten with Austin Sheppard (Michigan) and Jessie DeZiel (Nebraska) and is just behind the perfect 10.000 from Illinois' Amber See.
As a team, Penn State jumped four spots in the national polls after posing the third highest team score in school history last weekend at New Hampshire. The Nittany Lions currently sit 15th in the GymInfo rankings with a Regional Qualifying Score of 196.280, while ranking among the top-20 on all four apparatus entering the final weekend of the regular season.
Along with Sibson's back-to-back weekly awards, Penn State also swept the weekly awards after their season opening victory over Iowa State. Randi Lau won Gymnast of the Week, Kassidy Stauder won Event Specialist of the Week and Nicole Medvitz claimed the Freshman of the Week award on Jan. 6.
Penn State will conclude the regular season in a quad meet at No. 7 Michigan with Iowa and No. 12 Minnesota next Saturday, March 15. The meet in Ann Arbor will air live on the Big Ten Network at 1:30 p.m.
Penn State will begin the postseason on their home floor, hosting the 2014 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships on March 22 and the 2014 NCAA Regional Championships on April 5 inside historic Rec Hall.
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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