Feb. 19, 2018
By Maria Evangelou, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The Penn State women's gymnastics team always knows a competition weekend will be busy in and out of Rec Hall. With that said, this past weekend had a little extra buzz as it was also THON weekend on Penn State's campus.
THON, a 46-hour student-run dance marathon took place Friday to Sunday, but before the team could head over to the marathon, they had to finish a competition.
No. 28 Penn State (195.325) defeated Cornell (192.400) and Penn (192.200) in its first tri-meet of the season on Saturday, nabbing reputable scores across the board.
"Tonight was a good night for us," head coach Sarah Brown said after the win. "We started out strong, we only had five up on vault and I thought we had a really strong rotation there."
The team placed a 48.375 on the beam lineup, an ongoing battle for the Nittany Lions, who ended up leading the scoring in that rotation.
"We've struggled in that 1-2 position, but I thought Peyton [Schuller] and Lauren [Bridgens] did a really great job," Brown said. "Unfortunately, we didn't finish as strong as we would have liked on that event. Moving to floor, I thought our energy was good and again the scores were great so if we can stay in bounds I think we're going to be a really complete team moving forward later on in the season."
The Nittany Lions saw success from multiple gymnasts all afternoon. Along with Bridgens on beam, Peyton Schuller tied for fifth with a 9.700. On the uneven bars, sophomore Tess McCracken tied a career-best outing to tie for sixth with Briannah Tsang with a 9.800.
"I think we really came together as a team, especially at certain parts in the meet where everybody had each other's backs," Schuller said. "There was lots of energy at the end when we needed it."
Bridgens was a start of the night for Penn State, winning the all-around title. In addition to the all-around, Bridgens won three event titles.
"Lauren was awesome tonight, I'm super proud of her. She continues to be steady," Brown said. "As a coaching staff, we've gotten to know her a little bit better and recognize how she competes well, so the most important thing for her first is having fun and doing what she does well, and when we let her loose, she's a star, so we couldn't be more proud of her."
After the win, the Nittany Lions made their way over to the Bryce Jordan Center on Penn State's campus to put together a fun routine for this year's pep rally performed by student-athletes at THON, which has become a traditional part of the dance marathon.
"It's an honor to be here, and it's important to be able to do something for the community and for people that are less fortunate than us and to do anything we can," Schuller said.
For many of the athletes, like McCracken, it was also their first THON experience, a typically memorable one for many Penn State students.
"It's great being a part of something that's bigger than us, dancing for the kids and being out there doing something that's good for the world and not just for us," McCracken said.
"We just had a quick team meeting after the competition," Brown said. "We can say what we want about the competition, but at the end of the day, there are bigger and larger events out there in the world, and an opportunity for them to dance is huge to help out pediatric cancer, and we're honored to be a part of it and I hope that it's something we're going to continue to be part of in the future."
After a busy weekend for the athletes and coming off of a bin win, the Nittany Lions look ahead to cap off the season strong.
"I keep saying details, details, details, but I feel like at this point, we want to make sure that we're actually practicing what we preach, so I think at practice we need to be a little more intense," Brown said. "I know the girls have a lot going on, they've been practicing for THON, and it's been a really heavy exam week, but we're getting to the point where we really need to zone in on those details in practice so that we can expect them in competition and not just hope that they happen."
This week will consist of three to four practices for the gymnasts, where they will prepare for their last home meet of the regular season, followed by a long slate of meets on the road.
"On Monday I'll get an idea of how the athletes' bodies are feeling and how they've been maintaining throughout the season," Brown said. "I want to make sure that we're continuing to stay healthy and making smart decisions, but we're going to have to be a little more intense in practice if we're going to see it translate in competition."
"I'm looking forward to going in and fixing what we didn't do well this week," McCracken said. "Also, just to keep grinding and really get back to where we started and what our goals were in the beginning and re-focus on that.
Penn State will host No. 18 George Washington for its final home meet of the regular season, which will be a combined double dual with the men's team. The meet is slated for Feb. 24 at 4 p.m. at Rec Hall.