March 5, 2017
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PHILADELPHIA - The Penn State women's gymnastics team put together one of its most complete meets of the season Sunday en route to a first-place finish in a quad meet at the Palestra. The Nittany Lions captured the victory with a season-best 196.200, while Bridgeport placed second (193.875), West Chester took third (192.950) and host Penn finished fourth (191.475).
"It was great to get our highest score of the year on the road today," interim co-head coach Kera Molinaro said. "The team showed a lot of heart coming out and starting on the floor exercise, which is the first time we have done that this year. They rocked their floor routines and we got a great score to start the meet. We then tallied our highest score of the year on the vault and we were pretty pumped up after the first two rotations and we then followed through strong for the rest of the meet. We are really proud of the team today."
As a team, the Nittany Lions recorded season-best scores on the vault (48.975), the uneven bars (49.275) and the floor exercise (49.300).
Individually, three Nittany Lions brought home four event titles and the all-around title. Junior Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) tied for the vault crown (9.875), won the floor exercise title outright (9.950) and she took the top spot in the all-around standings (39.425). Along with Tsang, Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) captured the uneven bars title (9.925) and Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) won the balance beam title (9.850).
Penn State started the afternoon with five Nittany Lions finishing in the top-10 on the floor exercise en route to a team score of 49.300. On the floor exercise, Tsang won her fourth title of the 2017 campaign with a career-best 9.950, which tied the No. 5 performance in school history.
Also for the Nittany Lions on the floor exercise, Garcia tied a career-best 9.900 to finish third, sophomore Mason Hosek (Pearland, Texas) tied a career-best 9.850 to tie for fifth, and freshman Kristen Politz (Morganville, N.J.) and sophomore Peyton Schuller (Erie, Pa.) tied for ninth-place (9.800).
The Blue & White then moved to the vault in the second rotation where they tallied a 48.975, as four Nittany Lions recorded top-10 finishes Sunday.
For the Nittany Lions on the vault, Tsang picked up her second event title of the afternoon with a 9.875. Joining Tsang in the top-10 on the vault, Garcia finished fourth (9.850), sophomore Gianna LaGuardia (Thornton, Colo.) tied a career-best 9.800 to tie for fifth, and Hosek finished ninth with a 9.775.
On the uneven bars during the third rotation, five Nittany Lions finished in the top-six en route to a team score of 49.275. For the Blue & White on the uneven bars, Garcia won her fourth event crown of the season with a 9.925, followed by Politz tying a career-best 9.875 to place second and Medvitz tying a career-best 9.850 to finish third. Also for Penn State, junior Chanen Raygoza (Upland, Calif.) tallied a season-best 9.825 to tie for fourth and Tsang tied for sixth (9.800).
Penn State closed out the meet with a 48.650 on the balance beam, as four Nittany Lions finished in the top-eight. On the balance beam for Penn State, Medvitz won her sixth event title of the season with a 9.850, followed by Hosek tying a career-best 9.825 to finish second and Tsang tied for third-place with a 9.800. Also on the balance beam, Politz ended the day with a 9.625 to tie for eighth-place.
In the all-around standings, Tsang took the top spot for the fifth time this season, and for the 10th time in her career, with a season-best 39.425. Also in the all-around, Garcia placed third (39.225) and Politz finished fourth (38.975).
With the non-conference portion of the 2017 regular season now in the books, Penn State heads to Iowa City, Iowa, next weekend for the Big Five Qualifier. The Nittany Lions will compete against Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Rutgers on Saturday, March 11, inside Carver-Hawkeye Arena. The meet is slated for a 4 p.m. (EST) start.