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April 1, 2017
GAINESVILLE, Fla. - Sophomore Sabrina Garcia (Etters, Pa.) and junior Briannah Tsang (Vancouver, British Columbia) punched their tickets to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships in the all-around at the NCAA Gainesville Regional in front of 5,214 fans Saturday afternoon inside the Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors (who are not on an advancing team) from each regional received an automatic berth to the national championships in St. Louis, Missouri, April 14-15.
In the team standings, Florida took the top spot in the Gainesville Regional with a 197.125, followed by Georgia (196.775), Missouri (196.100), Penn State (195.325), North Carolina (194.425) and New Hampshire (194.175).
In the all-around standings, Tsang finished fourth with a 39.250, while Garcia placed seventh with a 39.050. Tsang makes her second trip to the NCAA meet after placing 38th at last year's meet on the floor exercise.
"Kera Molinaro and I are both very proud of the team," co-interim head coach Josh Nilson said. "They fought hard today, they showed a lot of grit. Having both Briannah Tsang and Sabrina Garcia advance to the NCAA Championships is amazing for our program and Penn State. They are both are very deserving on advancing to the NCAA Championships meet. Again we are very proud of our team, they came together and they competed."
"To end the way we did on the uneven bars today was amazing," Nilson said. "One after another hit and they just kept going. I told them to enjoy the competition and that is exactly what they did."
On the afternoon, Penn State posted team scores of 48.800 (balance beam), 48.675 (floor exercise), 48.800 (vault) and 49.050 (uneven bars).
Saturday's rotation order for Penn State was balance beam, bye, floor exercise, vault, bye and uneven bars.
The Nittany Lions opened the meet with a 48.800 on the balance beam. For Penn State on the balance beam, Tsang and senior Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) tied for the team lead as they both tallied a 9.850 to finish tied for fifth. Along with the duo of Medvitz and Tsang, Garcia and Mason Hosek (Pearland, Texas) tied for 25th with a 9.725.
Following a bye in the second rotation, the Nittany Lions scored a 48.675 on the floor exercise during rotation three. On the floor exercise, Tsang tied for sixth with a 9.850 and Hosek posted a 9.800 to finish tied for 13th.
The Nittany Lions then tallied a 48.800 on the vault during the fourth rotation. For Penn State on the vault, senior Emma Sibson (Allen, Texas) tied for 11th with a 9.825 and sophomore Gianna LaGuardia (Thornton, Colo.) tied a career-best score of 9.800 to tie for 14th.
After a bye in the fifth rotation, the Blue & White closed out the meet with a 49.050 on the uneven bars.
For Penn State on the uneven bars, Garcia tied for second with a 9.900, freshman Kristen Politz (Morganville, N.J.) posted a 9.850 to tie for sixth, while Medvitz and Tsang tied for 15th with a 9.800.
Penn State's 49.050 on the uneven bars tied the seventh-best event score at an NCAA Regional meet, while Penn State's 48.800 on the balance beam tied the ninth-best score on the event at an NCAA Regional meet.
Medvitz closed out her Nittany Lion career Saturday competing in 49 of 50 team meets over the past four seasons.
Nittany Lion seniors Nicole Medvitz, Christina Postiglione, Emma Sibson will graduate this upcoming spring and Penn State returns 12 members of the 2017 team for the 2018 season.