April 2, 2016
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ANN ARBOR, Mich. - In front of 4,325 fans Saturday night inside the Crisler Center, the Penn State women's gymnastics team finished fifth with a 195.125 at the NCAA Regional Championships and individually, sophomore Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships on the floor exercise with her tally of 9.900.
Auburn and Stanford tied for the top spot to advance to the NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, April 15-16. The Tigers and Cardinal each scored a 196.525 to tie for first, the Michigan Wolverines finished third with a 196.475, while Eastern Michigan placed fourth (196.250) and New Hampshire took sixth (193.900).
"I am really proud of how the team fought tonight," head coach Jeff Thompson said. "We got off to a great start on the uneven bars and then we went to the balance beam and unfortunately our first gymnast fell and put everyone under pressure and we had another fall before we ended the rotation. We went to floor and had an awesome night on floor and Briannah Tsang is heading to Nationals. We ended the night on vault with some really good vaults."
Tsang notched a season-best 39.375 in the all-around to finish tied for third, but missed out on an NCAA bid in the all-around due to a tie-breaker. On the day, Tsang posted a 9.850 on the uneven bars, a 9.825 on the balance beam, a 9.900 on the floor exercise and she ended the meet with a 9.800 on the vault.
"I think Briannah is fired up to attend her first NCAA Championships," Thompson said. "We thought for the longest time she was going to go as an all-arounder, but when she tied the tie-breaker, Brianna Brown from Michigan went 9.95 on the uneven bars to capture the tie-breaker, that's the way how it goes sometimes and that's the rules. Briannah had a great night tonight on all four events and she deserves to go to the NCAA Championships and represent Penn State."
The Nittany Lions started the meet on the uneven bars, followed by the balance beam before their first bye during rotation three. Following their first bye, the Nittany Lions went to the floor exercise and the vault and closed out the competition with a bye.
The Nittany Lions opened the meet with a 49.025 on the uneven bars, which is the ninth-best NCAA Regional score in program history. On the uneven bars, four Nittany Lions scored a 9.825 or higher.
For Penn State on the apparatus, Tsang tied her season-best score of 9.850 to tie for 13th. Heading into the meet, Tsang notched a 9.850 twice on the year (Michigan State - 2/6 and in the Big Five Qualifier - 3/12).
Also on the uneven bars, sophomore Chanen Raygoza (Upland, Calif.) along with freshmen Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) and Jessica Jones (Canfield, Ohio) each tallied a 9.825 to tie for 19th.
In her NCAA Regional-debut, Garcia tied for fifth on the balance beam as she tied a career-best 9.850. As a team, Penn State posted a 48.400 on the event.
Along with Garcia, Tsang finished tied for 11th with a 9.825, while Raygoza and Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) each recorded a 9.725 to finish tied for 30th.
The Nittany Lions returned to the competition during the fourth rotation on the floor exercise. As a group, Penn State tied its seventh-best regional score in program history with a 49.100.
Freshman Mason Hosek (Pearland, Texas) tied her third-best score of 2016 (9.800) to start the event off for the Nittany Lions. In her NCAA Regional-debut, Hosek finished tied for 19th on the event.
Another freshman, Garcia, went fourth in the Nittany Lion lineup and hit the second-best floor exercise score of her career. She finished tied for 10th with her tally of 9.850 and sophomore Oni Timothy (Rochester, N.Y.) added a 9.825 to tie for 15th.
The floor exercise for Penn State was capped off with Tsang tallying a 9.900, which punched her ticket to the NCAA Championships for the first time as a Nittany Lion. Tsang tied with seven other gymnasts for the top spot in the floor exercise standings.
Penn State finished the meet during the fifth rotation on the vault with a 48.600.
For the Nittany Lions on the vault, Tsang closed out the meet for Penn State with her team-leading 9.800 as she finished tied for 10th.
Also for the Blue and White on the vault, freshmen Hosek and Jones chipped in a 9.725 and 9.750, respectively. Jones finished tied for 16th, while Hosek tied for 21st.
The 2016 Nittany Lion roster did not feature any seniors and PSU welcomes three student-athletes to the team for the 2017 season.
"The fact that we return the entire team next year and the amount of experience they gained tonight in this pressure-packed arena with loud fans and really good teams is going to pay dividends down the road," Thompson added. "I am just really proud of this team."