Feb. 15, 2018
By Maria Evangelou, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - After three consecutive high-scoring meets, the Nittany Lions are making significant strides as they reach midseason. Most recently, Penn State faced Ohio State, posting the team's highest score of the season with a 196.025, in addition to tallying its second-highest score of the season on the floor exercise (49.075).
"Ohio state was a turning point for our program," head coach Sarah Brown said. "I thought we handled ourselves very well under pressure, and in a really loud and energetic environment that will be similar to postseason. I think what we've been trying to do is practice like we compete and compete like we practice. So I think it's a balance between coming into the gym and trying to create pressure situations where we can try to simulate the meet, but then when we get to the meet my number one goal is to make it feel like practice, so trying to control those nerves and make sure we don't feel an extra amount of pressure, that we just do what we do well and we've continued to be more calm in competitions as the season goes on."
One Nittany Lion that remained calm and competed at a high level was junior Sabrina Garcia on the floor exercise, posting a 9.875 to tie for first with teammate Briannah Tsang and two Buckeyes in the event.
"I definitely think we've gained confidence, become more consistent and hit more routines, and with that confidence I think we'll continue to go up," Garcia said. "With each meet and each practice between the meets we're focusing on the details, so we're focusing on sticking the landings, hitting the handstands, and working on the little things that will improve our scores."
In addition to her impressive floor score, Garcia nabbed a career-best score of 9.925 for her first balance beam title of the season.
"Before the beam and as I was going through the routine, I was just saying my words, doing what I do in practice, and I went up there with complete confidence in myself and my capabilities in my routine," Garcia said. "Once I finished, it was almost relieving that I was finished and I knew what I was capable of."
Junior Mason Hosek also contributed to the Nittany Lions' team beam season-best score of 49.050 by tying for third with a 9.800.
"The biggest improvement all together on the beam is just within our mentality," Hosek said. "We kind of changed our mentality from trying to hit a beam routine and hoping we'd make it, to knowing we're going to hit it, and showing the judges what we can do. We're going to continue to hit and show everyone what we got, and finish off the season strong."
Brown found that the best way to coach the gymnasts into perfecting their routines was emphasizing character and attitude first and foremost while competing.
"In general, just our attitude going into beam was so much better, we had a certain level of confidence that I knew we had in us that I had seen in practice that I just hadn't seen in competition," Brown said. "I actually talked a little bit less about gymnastics before beam, and talked about the general mood, tone and confidence that I wanted to see from each of the athletes, and I think that that carried over into their routines."
The Nittany Lions have seen progress all season long, and there are multiple contributing factors to that success.
"Each week we sit down and talk with our sports psychologist and kind of pick a theme for each week," Brown said. "I feel like every theme that we've had and every meeting we've had has kind of been working toward this point, where we're finally trusting each other and the system, because we're starting to see those results week in and week out."
Penn State is looking ahead to a two-week home slate, which is always a positive for the team, whose confidence shines through in Rec Hall. As the season progresses, the Nittany Lions can also look ahead with hope as the regional qualifying scores for championship meets will be released in the coming weeks.
"I want to have a good showing this week and next week," Brown said. "Then it's going to be about pacing ourselves after that, because we're on the road for four weeks in a row and that is going to get challenging, but that's what we've been preparing for. In terms of the way the RQS comes together, having those road scores late in the season should be great for our team."
Garcia and Hosek have faith in not only their own progress, but the progress of their teammates, specifically those who are younger and new to the program.
"I think it comes with relying on our training, having trust in each other and our coaches, and continuing to go into each meet with the mentality that we got this and we have the capability to be great," Garcia said.
"As a team, we've been getting significantly more confident each meet," Hosek said. "Even with the small mistakes we're having each week, it's like we're showing a progression all the way through the end of the meet every week. So travelling and coming back home now, I just feel like this is an uphill battle but we're going to keep rising, I'm extremely excited, I think there's nothing but great things to come of this team and I can't wait to see where we go."
On top of perfecting their routines and team spirit, the gymnasts emphasize the importance of staying grounded and level-headed, no matter the competition they face.
"All the teams we're going against are obviously a competition each time, so there's no team we're going into knowing we're better or expecting to win, we go in with the same attitude each meet," Hosek said. "But I think that coming home is really nice after being away for a little bit, and building our confidence back at home is really nice before we go away for four weeks again, so it'll be really nice to start us on a drive where we're going up."
After a full change in coaching staff, a new set of freshmen on the squad, and some new competition, the team is pleased with how the season has been progressing.
"The underclassmen have their footing pretty well now, we're into the mid part of the season, and I think the best advice I have is just to get into treatment as much as you can, resting on our days off, but besides that I think that we're doing all that we can in and out of the gym," Hosek said.
Grateful for Brown's style of coaching and encouragement throughout the season, Hosek feels that the team has nowhere to go but up.
"Purpose and composure have been our main two words," Hosek said. "I personally always feel like I come out there with an attacking attitude, that's been my word, and I think that that's shown in the way I've competed and the way our team has competed you can see that we have more composure, and there's always a purpose when we finish the meet. I think that's really been showing and she's really done a great job of helping us find our flow."
No. 28 Penn State returns home to Happy Valley to host Cornell and Penn in a tri-meet format. The meet is slated for a 4 p.m. start at Rec Hall on Feb. 17.