Feb. 21, 2016
By Mandy Bell, GoPSUSports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK ââ'¬" The Nittany Lions placed third in a quad meet against No. 4 Alabama, No. 13 Denver and Cornell at Rec Hall Saturday afternoon.
Alabama took home the victory scoring 197.300 followed by a Denver score of 196.350. The Nittany Lions totaled 195.100 and Cornell placed fourth with a 191.000.
Penn State got off to a solid start on vault, posting a 48.950. Briannah Tsang led the Nittany Lions with a 9.850 followed by a 9.825 by Kiera Brown. New to the Penn State vault lineup for this season, Chanen Raygoza posted a 9.750.
"We are excited we had Chanen Raygoza in the vault lineup this week because she's such a great vaulter. She had a couple ankle surgeries in high school. It's just now in her sophomore year where she can land on a matt and it not hurt," Penn State head coach Jeff Thompson said. "We warmed her up last week but she just wasn't ready. So for her to go this week and have a great vault, it's great for us. It's going to help us down the road."
The Nittany Lions matched their vault score in the second rotation on the uneven bars. After an uncharacteristic fall by Raygoza, Sabrina Garcia clutched a 9.850 performance followed by a stellar 9.875 by Brown.
"We went to bars and our first two bar routines didn't do what they do in the gym," Thompson said. "I really felt like Sabrina Garcia with hitting her routine like she does in practice and sticking her dismount really got us back on track."
Mason Hosek, fresh off of a 9.900 balance beam routine last weekend against Ohio State, led the Nittany Lions with a slight stumble on the beam during her leap series. The Nittany Lions bounced back after the early fall to post a total score of 48.850.
"When I talked to Mason afterwards, she was like 'Yeah, I did my leaps and then I was on the ground, I don't know what happened.' That's a focus issue," Thompson said. "But it felt like they fought really hard on beam and for them to not fall after Mason led off with a fall, it shows a lot of heart and shows they are really growing up fast."
The Nittany Lions' beam anchor, Nicole Medvitz, nailed a 9.900 on her routine and took home the beam title. Brown also tallied a 9.850.
"It's a privilege to be the anchor and it's nice to know that all my team is confident in me and I was able to do well," Medvitz said. "We've been working really hard in the gym so my routines have been really consistent and I've been sticking a lot of dismounts in the gym so that gave me confidence and I just went out there and did what I always do every day."
Two early falls in the fourth rotation on the floor exercise made it challenging for the Nittany Lions to bounce back. Brown and Oni Timothy solidified 9.850s.
"The mistakes on floor, I have no words to explain what happened," Thompson said. "Again, when you fall on the very last thing you do in your routine, it looks like a lack of focus. I think it's the 'Yeah I made it! Oh wait, no I didn't, oops.'"
Despite a third place finish, Penn State's Brown achieved a career-best all-around score of 39.400.
"There's no different mindset with a quad meet. I think I enjoy it better because it moves faster. Sort of feels like having guys here for a dual meet," Brown said. "I think I felt better on floor today, I was much more confident because I have been really working hard in the gym."
With her score, Brown secured third place in the all-around category in Saturday's meet.
"We knew when she came here that she could be a great all-arounder. After the meet was over I asked her, 'Did you know you were going to have a great night?' and she said 'Yeah'. And when you know you're going to hit your routines, then gymnastics is fun," Thompson said. "I'm excited for her and her leading by example is going to help the younger girls get to that point."
The Nittany Lions will travel to College Park to take on Maryland at 7 p.m. on Monday.
"We only have one more home meet. We struggled at home in all four home meets and we've been doing great on the road," Thompson said. "So we have three road meets coming up, a chance for us to get some great performances in, get some really good scores and move up in the rankings."