Jan. 27, 2017
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team hits the road for the second time in the past three weeks for a Big Ten meet at No. 21 Illinois. The Nittany Lions (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) and Illinois Fighting Illini (4-2, 1-1 Big Ten) meet Sunday, Jan. 29, at 3 p.m. (EST) inside Huff Hall.
The Nittany Lions are coming off a 195.575-194.725 win over Maryland last weekend inside Rec Hall, while Illinois fell at Michigan, 197.050-195.300.
Against Maryland, sophomore Sabrina Garcia captured the uneven bars title and shared the floor exercise title, while Briannah Tsang won the vault, all-around and shared the balance beam title. Along with Garcia on the floor exercise, freshman Kristen Politz and sophomore Peyton Schuller tied for their first career title as Nittany Lions.
Sunday's meet is the third of five-straight Big Ten meets for the Nittany Lions during the 2017 season. Following Sunday's contest, the Nittany Lions return home for a pair of Big Ten meets against Michigan State (Feb. 4) and Ohio State (Feb. 11).
FOLLOW ALONG
Fans can follow along with live stats and live video for free courtesy of FightingIllini.com.
SCOUTING ILLINOIS
Illinois sports an overall record of 4-2 and a record of 1-1 in Big Ten action. Heading into the weekend, Illinois ranks 21st in the nation with its team average score of 195.133.
Last weekend, the Fighting Illini fell at Michigan, 197.050-195.300.
As a team against Michigan, Illinois posted scores of 48.650 (vault), 48.775 (uneven bars), 49.000 (balance beam) and 48.875 (floor exercise).
Individually, Karen Howell finished second in the all-around with a 38.225. Howell tallied scores of (9.700), 9.000 (uneven bars), 9.775 (balance beam), and 9.750 (floor exercise).
Heading into the 2017 season, Illinois was selected fourth in the Big Ten Preseason Coaches' Poll and 24th in the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W) Preseason Coaches' Poll.
Illinois returns 2015 All-American Mary Jane Horth and 2016 NCAA Championships individual qualifier Lizzy LeDuc. The Fighting Illini also welcome four freshmen to the program in 2017.
ILLINOIS RANKINGS
Based on season averages, Illinois ranks 21st in team scoring (195.133), 30th on the vault (48.692), 40th on the uneven bars (48.450), eighth on the balance beam (49.142) and is tied for 22nd on the floor exercise (48.850).
ILLINOIS LEADERS
Based on season averages, Lizzy Leduc leads the team on the vault (9.800), the balance beam (9.883), the floor exercise (9.862) and the all-around (39.425).
Mary Jane Horth leads the team on the uneven bars (9.817).
ILLINOIS SERIES
Penn State owns a 10-4-0 record in the regular season against Illinois. In last season's regular season meeting inside Rec Hall, the Illini prevailed over the Nittany Lions, 195.725-195.025.
At last year's meet, Briannah Tsang won the vault (9.850) and the floor exercise (9.900) title, while Chanen Raygoza tied for the uneven bars title (9.900).
Illinois has won two-straight regular season meetings against the Nittany Lions.
Penn State brought home its last win against Illinois on Feb. 15, 2014, by a score of 196.675-195.600.
PENN STATE RANKINGS
Based on season averages, heading into the Illinois meet, Penn State is 29th in team score (194.350), 40th on the vault (48.517), 18th on the uneven bars (48.842), 22nd on the balance beam (48.658) and 45th on the floor exercise (48.333).
PENN STATE LEADERS
Based on season averages, Briannah Tsang leads the Nittany Lions on the vault (9.825), the uneven bars (9.833) and in the all-around (39.233).
Sabrina Garcia and Tsang lead the team on the floor exercise (9.817), while Mason Hosek leads the team on the balance beam (9.800).
BIG TEN HONORS
Following the season-opening quad meet, Briannah Tsang was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week for the first time in her career.
Individually, Tsang won titles outright on the vault (9.850) and floor exercise (9.850). She also tied for the balance beam title with a 9.825.
Tsang's all-around score of 39.350 set at the Penn State quad meet is tied for 25th in the nation and is tied for third in the Big Ten.
WELCOME BACK
The Nittany Lions return 12 members from the 2016 team that finished fourth at the Big Ten Championships and fifth at the NCAA Regional Championships.
Last year, a pair of Nittany Lion freshmen competed in all 12 meets (Mason Hosek & Jessica Jones), while freshman Sabrina Garcia competed in 11 of 12 meets on the year.
RECORD-SETTING PERFORMANCE
Sophomore Sabrina Garcia swung into the Nittany Lion record books with her performance on the uneven bars in the 2017 season-opening meet.
Garcia recorded a career-best 9.950 on the uneven bars, which tied the No. 3 performance in school history.
Two weeks after her career-best 9.950 on the uneven bars in the season-opener, Garcia posted another 9.950 on the uneven bars against Maryland.
TSANG'S 31 TITLES
Junior Briannah Tsang has captured 24 individual titles and seven all-around titles over her Nittany Lion career.
Tsang opened up her junior year with three individual titles and the all-around title in a quad meet victory against Bowling Green, BYU and Temple on Jan. 7.
On the year, she has five individual event titles and a pair of all-around titles.
FIRST CAREER TITLES
Freshman Kristen Politz and sophomore Peyton Schuller both captured their first career title as Nittany Lions at the Maryland meet.
Politz and Schuller tied for the floor exercise title along with Sabrina Garcia against Maryland, as they all tallied a 9.825.
NEW NITTANY LIONS
Tess McCracken, Kristen Politz and Mikayla Waddell joined the Penn State women's gymnastics team in the fall of 2016 as freshmen. McCracken is from Plano, Texas, while Politz (Morganville) and Waddell (Ridgewood) both call New Jersey home.
ALL-AROUND DEBUT
In her first career all-around, Kristen Politz tallied a 39.050 to finish third overall at the Penn State-Nebraska meet.
On the day, Politz recorded a 9.875 on the uneven bars, a 9.625 on the vault, a 9.750 on the floor exercise and a 9.800 on the balance beam.
At the Nebraska meet, she set four career-bests and tied a career-best score.
SIBSON RETURNS
After an injury plagued 2016, senior Emma Sibson made her return for the Nittany Lions in the season-opening quad meet. In her lone event of the day, Sibson tied for seventh on the vault with a 9.725.
A 2015 Second Team All-Big Ten honoree, Sibson owns eight career event titles. During her first two seasons at Penn State she competed in all 26 meets, which included tying for fifth-place on the vault at the 2015 Big Ten Championships (9.900).
PRESEASON POLL
The Penn State women's gymnastics team was selected 23rd in the 2017 National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches/Women (NACGC/W) Preseason Coaches' Poll.
The Nittany Lions closed out the 2016 season ranked No. 26.
Penn State will compete against eight programs that are ranked in the NACGC/W Preseason Coaches' Poll during the 2017 season.
HOME SWEET HOME
The 2017 slate features five home meets for the Nittany Lions inside Rec Hall. Penn State opens the 2017 campaign at home in a quad meet against Bowling Green, BYU and Temple on Jan. 7. The Nittany Lions return home two weeks later to host Maryland in a double dual with the Penn State men's program on Jan. 21.
The month of February features three home meets for the Blue & White with Michigan State (Feb. 4), Ohio State (Feb. 11) and Pittsburgh (Feb. 25) coming to town. All Nittany Lion home meets start are scheduled for Saturdays at 4 p.m.
THOMPSON CAPTURES WIN NO. 150
Head coach Jeff Thompson is in his 17th season as a collegiate head coach and recently captured win No. 150. In his career, Thompson has compiled a 161-108 record.
On Feb. 22, 2016, Penn State defeated Maryland, 196.350-195.350, for Coach Thompson's 150th career win.
In his sixth season at the helm of Penn State, Thompson has a record of 89-26. Prior to Penn State, the Highland Heights, Ky., native tallied a record of 72-82 at Auburn.
In 2014, the Nittany Lions owned a 20-3 regular season record and set a school record for regular season victories on March 15 in the Big Ten Quad in Ann Arbor.
The previous school record was held by the 2007 squad, which finished 19-4 and placed third at the NCAA Regional Championships.
STARTING OFF STRONG
Since the 1999 season, the Nittany Lions have started the season with a top-10 season-opening meet score. The Nittany Lions have tallied a season-opening top-10 score in each of the past three seasons.
Three of the current top-10 scores have come under the watch of head coach Jeff Thompson.
Five of those scores have been recorded at home, with four others accomplished at the Super Six Challenge; 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007.
195.775 Morgantown, W.Va. 2012
195.075 University Park, Pa. 1999
194.875 University Park, Pa. 2006
194.850 Gainesville, Fla. 2005
194.800 University Park, Pa. 2009
194.675 University Park, Pa. 2015
194.625 University Park, Pa. 2017
194.600 Tuscaloosa, Ala. 2004
194.575 Fayetteville, Ark. 2007
194.375 Athens, Ga. 2003
THOMPSON IN ELITE COMPANY
Head coach Jeff Thompson headed back to the NCAA Championships for the second time as a head coach and his first as the leader of the Nittany Lions in 2014.
Thompson's first appearance at the national meet came with Auburn in 2003 and he led the Nittany Lions back to the national summit for the first time since the program went in 2009.
He is just the third head coach in NCAA history to navigate two different programs to the NCAA Championships, joining K.J. Kindler (Iowa State & Oklahoma) and Judi Markell (Penn State and Florida).
Thompson took Auburn to the championships during his fourth season at the helm of the program. The Tigers finished 12th at the 2003 NCAA Championships, posting a team score of 193.525.
The Highland Heights, Kentucky, native guided Penn State to their 17th appearance at the NCAA Championships in his fourth year, as well. The Blue and White finished 12th with a team score of 194.825.
MOLINARO, NILSON NAMED ASSISTANT COACHES
Following the conclusion of the 2016 season, head coach Jeff Thompson tabbed Kera Molinaro and Josh Nilson as assistant coaches with the Penn State women's gymnastics program.
Prior to the 2016 season, Molinaro was a volunteer assistant coach and she then served as an interim assistant coach during the 2016 season.
Nilson joined the PSU program after spending nine years at Utah State.
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME
Penn State enjoys one of the most historic collegiate gymnastics venues in the country and they take pride in giving the home crowd something to cheer for, including a lot of wins.
Since 1975, Penn State owns a 231-58 overall record in home meets. The Nittany Lions are 228-58 at Rec Hall and are 3-0 in meets contested inside the Bryce Jordan Center.
The loss to North Carolina State on Jan. 9, 2016, snapped a seven-meet winning streak inside Rec Hall. The seven-meet winning streak was the fourth-best in program history.
Penn State swept its last two home meets in 2014 and was unblemished in its five home dates in 2015.
The longest unbeaten streaks in school history are as follows: (Streaks are listed by meets, not wins. Meaning if Penn State hosted three teams needed to be victorious vs. all three opponents to extend the streak.)
1977-82 28 meets
1999-2001 11 meets
1975-77 10 meets
2014-15 7 meets
2013-14/2009-10/2005 6 meets
2007/1992-93 5 meets
2011/1991/1986-87 4 meets
SMART LIONS
Four Nittany Lions were honored by the Big Ten for their work in the classroom.
Nicole Medvitz, Christina Postiglione, Chanen Raygoza and Briannah Tsang were named to the 2016 Academic All-Big Ten team.
To be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection, students must be letterwinners who are in at least their second academic year at their institution and carry a cumulative grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
BIG TEN GYMNAST TO WATCH
Prior to the start of the 2017 season, Briannah Tsang was named a Big Ten Gymnast to Watch.
Tsang tied for 38th overall on the floor exercise at the 2016 NCAA Championships with her score of 9.8125.
LOOKING AHEAD
The Nittany Lions return to Happy Valley for two Big Ten meets inside Rec Hall. Penn State hosts Michigan State on Feb. 4 before taking on Ohio State on Feb. 11.