Oct. 6, 2016
Schedule Preview Interview
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team has released its 2017 schedule, as announced by head coach Jeff Thompson. The Nittany Lions are slated to host five meets inside Rec Hall during the 2017 season, all of which are scheduled for a 4 p.m. start.
"One of the goals every year is to protect our house," Thompson said. "We want go undefeated in Rec Hall. We think that is doable, but we'd also love to win the Big Ten regular season and to do that you have to get past Nebraska on the road. It looks to be an exciting season with a team that has 14 returners from last year and three great freshmen. We are looking forward to getting started."
The Nittany Lions open the 2017 campaign with a quad meet inside Rec Hall against Bowling Green, BYU and Temple on Jan. 7. Following the season-opening quad meet, the Nittany Lions begin a stretch of five-straight meets against Big Ten competition.
The 2017 Big Ten schedule gets underway for the Nittany Lions in Lincoln, Neb., against the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Jan. 15 inside the Bob Devaney Sports Center. The Blue and White then return home to host the Maryland Terrapins in a double dual meet on Jan. 21. Along with the Penn State women competing against Maryland, the Nittany Lion men take on Army West Point.
Penn State then hits the road for a Sunday afternoon showdown against the Illinois Fighting Illini in Champaign, Ill., on Jan. 29 before returning home to host a pair of Big Ten meets.
The 2017 Big Ten slate continues for the Nittany Lions with back-to-back meets against Michigan State (Feb. 4) and Ohio State (Feb. 11). The Ohio State meet will be a double dual meet as both Penn State teams compete against Ohio State.
The Nittany Lions then head to Denton, Texas, on Feb. 19 to compete in a quad meet against Sacramento State, Texas Women's University and Western Michigan.
Penn State returns to Rec Hall for its final home meet of the 2017 regular season on Feb. 25 as the Nittany Lions welcome the Pittsburgh Panthers to Happy Valley for a dual meet.
The non-conference portion of the 2017 regular season comes to a close for the Blue and White in Philadelphia on March 5. Penn State will compete in a quad meet against Bridgeport, Penn and West Chester inside the Rockwell Gymnasium.
The Nittany Lions then travel to Iowa City, Iowa, for the B1G Five Qualifier on March 11. The B1G Five Qualifier in Iowa City, Iowa, features Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Penn State and Rutgers.
The top-three team finishers from each B1G Five Qualifier session advance to the evening session of the Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships, while the bottom-two team finishers will compete in the morning session. The 2017 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships are scheduled for March 18 in Piscataway, N.J.
The Nittany Lions look to advance to their 36th-straight NCAA Regional on April 1. Arkansas, Georgia, Illinois, Nebraska, Washington and West Virginia are each slated to host a NCAA Regional.
The 2017 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships take place in St. Louis, Mo., April 14-16.