UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.- With only four home regular season meets for the Penn State Nittany Lions this season, senior Sabrina Garcia knows each one will be special. One of those opportunities came this past Saturday, and while each meet has meaning, Saturday's had some extra family meaning.
Garcia earned her second consecutive bars title on the same afternoon her grandma Patty Painter was honored prior to No. 27 Penn State's home opening Pink Zone meet versus No. 17 Ohio State at Rec Hall.
Painter was honored as part of Penn State's annual Pink Zone meet, which is held to bring awareness to breast cancer. Painter was recognized as a breast cancer survivor on the Rec Hall floor following the team's athlete introductions in front of the home crowd.
Garcia, along with her teammates, wore black leotards with a pink S on the front and pink hair ties while competing to show their support. Garcia, whose great-grandma passed away from breast cancer, said seeing her grandma be honored meant a lot to her.
"Well anything with breast cancer awareness is very special to me," Garcia said following the meet. "To see my grandma here and fighting through it, being a survivor, it's very important."
Garcia has always had a close relationship with her grandma and Painter has always been there for her family, so Painter's battle with breast cancer has only brought the family closer together, according to Garcia.
Heading into the meet versus Ohio State, Garcia wanted to focus on staying calm, aggressive and building consistency. In Penn State's previous meet at the Little Boston Invitational in Boston, Massachusetts Garcia won the bars title with a 9.900 score and finished the competition with an all-around score of 39.000, so she had the chance to build off that performance against Ohio State.
Garcia tied her career-high on bars with a 9.950 score and won the bars title for the second meet in a row with her performance versus Ohio State. In addition to her success on bars, Garcia also performed well on floor and beam as she finished the meet with a 39.225 all-around score.
Although Penn State ultimately fell short as a team against Ohio State, Garcia had a solid performance.
"Sabrina did a great job tonight, she led off super strong on beam," Penn State head coach Sarah Brown said.
Brown said that she met with the team following the meet to talk small mistakes the team made on beam and bars and sees it as an opportunity to grow.
"I think both of them were very weird things that just happened in one night but it will make us be sharper in practice this coming week so that we can avoid those mistakes in the future," Brown said.
Along with it being Penn State's Pink Zone meet, it was also the first time Garcia and the team competed in Rec Hall this season after starting the year with two road meets. Garcia said it was a "relief" to be back home and competing in Rec Hall.
"I love being home," Garcia said. "I feel like I can just let myself have fun and do what I do best."
Compared to when she was a freshman, Garcia, now a senior, cherishes every moment she gets to compete in Rec Hall.
"Freshman year you're just getting your feet wet, you're just getting used to what competing at a collegiate level is," Garcia said.
Another benefit of competing at Rec Hall for Garcia is the support she receives from her family, who attend every home meet. Her family also attends any meet that she is competing in that is within a five-hour drive of their home in Etters, Pennsylvania.
With Penn State set to compete against Minnesota in a double dual home meet at its next competition, Garcia will have another opportunity to cherish the moment of competing at Rec Hall and in front of her family.
