March 18, 2017
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PISCATAWAY, N.J. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team tallied a score of 195.200 to tie for sixth-place at the 2017 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships Saturday at the Rutgers Athletic Center.
Michigan captured its fourth-straight Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships crown with a 197.300 followed by Illinois (196.875), Iowa (196.725), Nebraska (196.475), Ohio State (195.525), Michigan State and Penn State (195.200), Minnesota (195.175), Rutgers (194.700) and Maryland (193.625).
"We got off to a great start on the uneven bars," interim co-head coach Kera Molinaro said. "We came to the balance beam and got a little tight, but still managed a good score. The ladies came out fired up for floor exercise and if it weren't for going out of bounds on a few passes we would have put up a big score. We tried a little too hard to stick our vaults as well."
"This team gave it everything they had tonight and we couldn't be more proud of them," Molinaro added. "Every experience is good because we will learn from these few mistakes and take that into the gym this week to work on both the physical and mental aspect. We locked in a spot into regionals today, so we are looking forward to getting a bye next weekend and having time in the gym. We will be ready to go for NCAA regionals!"
Penn State competed against Illinois, Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska and Ohio State in the evening session of the Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships. With the evening session of the Big Ten meet featuring six teams, each team had two byes on the night.
Penn State opened the meet on the uneven bars, followed by the balance beam and then rotation three featured Penn State's first bye of the meet. The Nittany Lions closed out the evening on the floor exercise and the vault before their second bye during the sixth rotation.
The Nittany Lions started the meet with a 49.100 on the uneven bars. For Penn State in the opening rotation, sophomore Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) tied for second-place with her score of 9.900. Along with Garcia, senior Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) and junior Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) tied for 15th, as they each tallied a 9.825. Freshman Kristen Politz (Morganville, N.J.) opened up her first Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships with a 9.800 on the uneven bars to tie for 21st.
The second rotation of the meet featured Penn State posting a score of 48.800 on the balance beam. On the balance beam for the Blue & White, upperclassmen Medvitz and Tsang led the Nittany Lions, as they both tallied a 9.850 to tie for 10th.
Following a bye during the third rotation, the Nittany Lions posted a 48.700 on the floor exercise in rotation four. Sophomore Mason Hosek (Pearland, Texas) led the charge for the Nittany Lions on the floor exercise as she tied for 24th with a 9.825. In addition to Hosek, Garcia tied for 30th with a 9.800, and sophomore Peyton Schuller (Erie, Pa.) tied for 38th with a 9.750.
The Nittany Lions closed out the meet on the vault with a 48.600 during rotation five. On the final apparatus on the evening for the Nittany Lions, Tsang tied a season-best score of 9.875 to tie for third and Politz posted a 9.750 to tie for 36th.
In the all-around standings, Tsang led the Nittany Lions with a 39.275 to place seventh, while Garcia finished 11th (39.100) and Politz took 16th (38.775) in her first Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships meet.
Following the conclusion of the Big Ten meet Saturday, Garcia and Tsang were named to the All-Championships Team, while Medvitz was named Penn State's Sportsmanship Award honoree.
Next up for Penn State is the NCAA Regional meet. The top-36 teams in the Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) standings will advance to the NCAA Regional round. The NCAA Regional round is held on Saturday, April 1, at six different host sites.
The six host sites are: Champaign, Ill. (Illinois), Fayetteville, Ark. (Arkansas), Gainesville, Fla. (Florida), Lincoln, Neb. (Nebraska), Morgantown, W.Va. (West Virginia), and Seattle, Wash. (Washington).
The NCAA Regional meet selection show is slated for Monday, March 20, on NCAA.com at 4 p.m. (EDT)
INDIVIDUAL AWARDS
Gymnast of the Year: Nicole Artz, Michigan
Freshman of the Year: Taylor Houchin, Nebraska
Coach of the Year: Larissa Libby, Iowa
ALL-CHAMPIONSHIPS TEAM
Bridget Hodan, Illinois
Mary Jane Horth, Illinois
Lizzy LeDuc, Illinois
Mollie Drenth, Iowa
Angel Metcalf, Iowa
Lanie Snyder, Iowa
Nicole Artz, Michigan
Talia Chiarelli, Michigan
Olivia Karas, Michigan
Emma McLean, Michigan
Nicola Deans, Michigan State
Kira Frederick, Michigan State
Elena Lagoski, Michigan State
Hailee Westney, Michigan State
Ciara Gardner, Minnesota
Hannah Hitchcock, Minnesota
Paige Williams, Minnesota
Sienna Crouse, Nebraska
Taylor Houchin, Nebraska
Jennie Laeng, Nebraska
Alexis Mattern, Ohio State
Sabrina Garcia, Penn State
Briannah Tsang, Penn State
Claire Jones, Rutgers
Makenzey Shank, Rutgers
SPORTSMANSHIP AWARD HONOREES
Jordyn Givens, Illinois
Nicole Chow, Iowa
Sarah Faller, Maryland
Emma McLean, Michigan
Molly Hoerner-O'Malley, Michigan State
Kaitlin Rahon, Minnesota
Catelyn Orel, Nebraska
Jaine VanPutten, Ohio State
Nicole Medvitz, Penn State
Libby Groden, Rutgers