Jan. 15, 2017
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LINCOLN, Neb. - The No. 18 Penn State women's gymnastics team (3-1, 0-1 B1G) opened its 2017 Big Ten schedule with a 195.700-192.900 loss to preseason No. 12 Nebraska (1-0, 1-0 B1G) Sunday afternoon inside the Bob Devaney Sports Center. Senior Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) closed out the meet for the Nittany Lions with a 9.900 to capture her eighth career balance beam title.
"We got off to a great start after the uneven bar performance we had last weekend at home," head coach Jeff Thompson said. "The uneven bar performance today was an amazing performance to start the meet. We had a couple aggressive errors, which prevented us from scoring higher, but we are really proud of how they got off to a great start."
Competing in her first career all-around, freshman Kristen Politz (Morganville, N.J.) finished third overall with a 39.050. On the afternoon, Politz tallied a 9.875 on the uneven bars, a 9.625 on the vault, a 9.750 on floor exercise and she ended the meet with a 9.800 on the balance beam.
The Blue & White started the day with a 48.975 on the uneven bars. Individually for the Nittany Lions on the uneven bars, Politz tied for third-place (9.875), while Medvitz and sophomore Jessica Jones (Canfield, Ohio) tied for seventh-place with a 9.800.
In the second rotation, the Nittany Lions posted a 48.025 on the vault. Sophomore Gianna LaGuardia (Thornton, Colo.) and junior Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) led the Nittany Lions on the vault, as they tied for third-place with a 9.800.
Following the vault, the Nittany Lions moved to the floor exercise where they recorded a 47.125. For the Nittany Lions on the floor exercise, Tsang tied for second-place (9.825) and sophomore Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) rounded out the top-five with her score of 9.800.
"We regrouped, we went to floor, we warmed up great and we knew we were only going to have five competitors," Thompson said. "Everyone was going to have to hit and do their job and unfortunately Jessica Jones hurt her knee on her second tumbling pass on what looked like a routine landing."
Penn State finished the meet with a 48.775 on the balance beam. Along with Medvitz winning the balance beam title (9.900), Politz tied for fourth (9.800) and Garcia recorded a 9.775 to finish sixth.
"We just rallied together and said what was important for the rest of the meet was to go out and hit routines," Thompson said. "We hit the next four floor routines and what I am really proud of, is sophomore Peyton Schuller and freshman Tess McCracken, who were inserted into the beam lineup at the last minute. Neither one of them really competed on beam in college and they both hit their routines. The bright spot is we were able to hit 10 routines to close out the meet."
The Nittany Lions return to Rec Hall for their first double dual home meet of the 2017 season. The Nittany Lion women host Maryland, while the Penn State men host Army West Point on Saturday, Jan. 21. The meet is slated for a 4 p.m. start.