Jan. 20, 2017
By Anita Nham, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team is looking for its first Big Ten win of the season as they take on Maryland Saturday afternoon. This meet will be the first double dual of the season for the Nittany Lions, meaning both the Penn State men and women will compete together in Rec Hall on Saturday.
"Double dual meets are always the most exciting meets of the year," head coach Jeff Thompson said. "I think that the women's gymnastics fans love coming to see the men compete and I think the men's gymnastics fan love seeing the women compete. It's a good crossover because even though the sports are completely different, they're still very similar. Fans understand and know what's going on. Even though they might not know all the names of the skills on the high-bar or parallel bars, they know good gymnastics when they see it, and we're looking forward to it."
However, when fans enter Rec Hall, they might notice something different about this double dual than in previous years. The setup for Saturday afternoon will be more open, giving fans and judges better views of the competition.
"We're going to use a new set-up this week," coach Thompson said. "The setup that has been used for double dual meets for the past 20 years, our judges sit way too close to the equipment to judge properly and they always complain, so we're using more of the women's setup and it's going to be more wide open. It should be great for the fans, the competitors and the judges."
In addition, Saturday afternoon will be THON Awareness Night for both the men's and women's gymnastics team.
"Most people know that the women's gymnastics team does a ton in the community," Thompson said. "Having won the Champs Cup for community service the last six years in a row, it should come as no surprise that they love doing these types of events. Anytime we can give back to our community and to the world's largest student-run philanthropy, is something that we take great pride in."
The Blue and White are coming off a hard-fought matchup against Nebraska last Saturday, just coming up short 195.700-192.900.
Nonetheless, senior Nicole Medvitz was able to help the team by securing the balance beam title.
"It felt pretty good [winning my eighth balance beam title]," Medvitz said. "I just went up and did what I do in practice and it was great that I was able to finish the meet off strong for my team and just hit a good routine."
She hopes to continue her success as the Nittany Lions return to Rec Hall for the THON double dual meet.
"It's really exciting because it's nice to support a good cause and we really try to help out in the community, so I like being able to compete for that cause," Medvitz said. "Also, having a double dual brings in a lot more fans and there's a lot going on at one time, so there's a lot of energy which really pumps us up and gets us excited for the meet. We usually do well when we do that, but we do have to make sure that we stay focused on us and just do what we always do in a regular meet."
The meet against the Terrapins will begin Saturday at 4 p.m.