March 16, 2018
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UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - The No. 25 Penn State women's gymnastics team (10-5, 1-4 Big Ten) closes out the regular season on Saturday, March 17, with the Big Five Meet in Piscataway, New Jersey. Penn State will compete against No. 32 Iowa, No. 7 Michigan, No. 22 Minnesota, and Rutgers. The meet is slated for a 5:30 p.m. start at the Rutgers Athletic Center live on the Big Ten Network.
Along with the Piscataway, New Jersey, Big Five Meet, the East Lansing, Michigan, Big Five Meet features No. 30 Illinois, No. 28 Maryland, Michigan State, No. 11 Nebraska and No. 24 Ohio State.
The top-three team finishers from each meet will advance to the evening session of the Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships, while the other four teams will compete in the afternoon session. The 2018 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships take place at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois, on March 24. The afternoon session takes place at 3 p.m. (EDT) and the evening session is scheduled for 8 p.m. (EDT)
The Nittany Lions enter the Big Five Meet with a season-best tally in each of the past three meets. Last weekend, Penn State recorded a season-high 196.675 en route to a quad meet victory at BYU on March 9. In addition to the season-best team score, Penn State recorded the No. 2 score in school history on the uneven bars (49.475) and posted a season-best score on the balance beam (49.200).
Individually for the Nittany Lions at BYU, freshman Lauren Bridgens recorded the first perfect 10 on the uneven bars as she won the uneven bars title and she also won the all-around with a 39.375. Along with Bridgens, senior Briannah Tsang won the vault title outright (9.875) and she tied for the floor exercise title (9.925).
FOLLOW ALONG
The meet will be aired live on the Big Ten Network with Bernie Guenther and former Minnesota gymnast Lindsay Mable on the call.
ROTATION ORDER
Penn State will open up on the uneven bars before heading to the balance beam during the second rotation. After a bye in the third rotation Penn State will compete on the floor exercise before closing out the meet on the vault.
ABOUT IOWA
Iowa enters the weekend with an overall record of 5-9 and a Big Ten record of 3-2.
Last weekend, Iowa finished third (195.600) in a tri-meet against then-No. 19 Missouri (196.050) and then-No. 25 Iowa State (196.700). For the Hawkeyes in the tri-meet, they tallied a season-high 49.225 on the uneven bars.
Nationally, Iowa is 32nd overall (195.680), is tied for 37th on the vault (48.835), is tied for 33rd on the uneven bars (48.970), is tied for 26th on the balance beam (49.010), is tied for 29th on the floor exercise (49.115).
ABOUT MICHIGAN
The Michigan Wolverines head to the Big Five Meet with an overall record of 11-2-1 and a Big Ten record of 4-1.
Last weekend, Michigan captured a 196.950-196.800 victory over No. 4 Utah in front of 7,212 fans inside the Crisler Center.
Nationally, Michigan is seventh overall (196.945), is eighth on the vault (49.235), is tied for eighth on the uneven bars (49.265), sixth on the balance beam (49.335), and is tied for seventh on the floor exercise (49.320).
ABOUT MINNESOTA
Minnesota makes its way to the Big Five Meet with an overall record of 13-4 and a Big Ten record of 3-2.
Last weekend, Minnesota finished second in a quad meet at Sacramento State. Then-No. 20 California finished first with a 196.650, followed by No. 22 Minnesota (196.475), Sacramento State (195.175), and Alaska (191.925).
Nationally, Minnesota ranks 22nd overall (196.160), is 30th on the vault (48.970), is tied for 16th on the uneven bars (49.205), is 25th on the balance beam (49.040), and is tied for 29th on the floor exercise (49.115).
ABOUT RUTGERS
Rutgers will be the host for the Piscataway, New Jersey, Big Five Meet. On the year, Rutgers has an overall record of 9-16 and a Big Ten record of 0-5.
Last weekend, Rutgers (184.500) had to count four scores on the uneven bars and finished fourth in a quad meet against Eastern Michigan (195.725), Lindenwood (196.400), and Temple (196.050).
Nationally, Rutgers is 52nd overall (194.205), is tied for 50th on the vault (48.685), is 63rd on the uneven bars (48.190), is 38th on the balance beam (48.795), and is 52nd on the floor exercise (48.810).
WEEKLY BIG TEN HONORS
Freshman Lauren Bridgens and senior Briannah Tsang have both garnered multiple weekly honors from the Big Ten conference this season. Bridgens has been named the Big Ten Freshman of the Week five times, while Tsang has been tabbed the Big Ten Gymnast of the Week four times.
TSANG'S 67 TITLES
Senior Briannah Tsang has captured 49 individual titles and 18 all-around titles in her Nittany Lion career.
In 2018, Tsang has 26 titles to her name. On the year, she has won seven floor exercise titles, six vault titles, three balance beam titles, two uneven bars titles, and has captured at least a share of the all-around title eight times.
SIX-IN-A-ROW
Senior Briannah Tsang opened the 2018 season by capturing a share of the all-around title in each of the first six meets. With her fourth-straight all-around title on Jan. 27, Tsang became the first Nittany Lion since Sharaya Musser to win four-straight all-around titles (2/23-3/16/13).
RECORD SETTING PERFORMANCES
On the year, the Nittany Lions have set four PSU record book performances. As a team, the Nittany Lions have recorded the No. 2 (49.475) and tied-No. 4 (49.375) scores on the uneven bars. Individually, Lauren Bridgens set the school record on the uneven bars (10.0) and Briannah Tsang tied the No. 5 score on the floor exercise (9.950).
TRENDING UP
Heading into the Big Five Meet, Penn State has recorded season-best scores in three-straight meets. Over the past three meets, the Nittany Lions have recorded a 196.150 (Feb. 24), a 196.650 (March 4), and a 196.675 (March 9).
REALISTICALLY LOCKED
As of March 16, the Penn State women's gymnastics team is "realistically locked" for one of the 36 spots in the 2018 NCAA Regional round, according to RoadtoNationals.com. If the Nittany Lions do secure one of the 36 spots, Penn State will be automatically placed in the University Park Regional.
Realistically locked is defined as "realistically impossible to miss regionals (even if all other teams got a full point higher than their high score on all remaining meets)."
PERFECT 10
On March 9, freshman Lauren Bridgens recorded the first perfect 10 on the uneven bars in program history. Bridgens' perfect 10 is also the 10th perfect 10 in program history and the first since Feb. 13, 2010.
NEXT UP
Pending the outcome of Saturday's Big Five Meet, the Nittany Lions will compete either in the afternoon session or the evening session of the 2018 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships on March 24. The 2018 Big Ten Women's Gymnastics Championships are held at the State Farm Center in Champaign, Illinois. The afternoon session takes place at 3 p.m. (EDT) and the evening session is scheduled for 8 p.m. (EDT)