University Park, Pa.- If Lauren Bridgens is spotted around campus alone by her friends, they'll come up to her and ask a question.
"Oh, where's the other one?"
Bridgens smiled and laughed as she talked about this funny interaction at weekly media availability this past Wednesday at Penn State's White Building.
The other one is her best friend and teammate Alissa Bonsall, who gets asked the same thing when they're apart.
Bridgens and Bonsall are inseparable.
They eat together. They walk everywhere together. And now as sophomores they're roommates.
So, when their friends see one without the other, they like to jokingly ask where the other one is.
"In the beginning we had our own things that we did separately," Bridgens said. "But definitely over the last year we have gotten a lot closer."
Bridgens has been best friends with Bonsall since high school when they committed to go to Penn State and their bond has helped them be successful in college.
They found each other on social media in high school, despite Bridgens being from Maryland and Bonsall being from Connecticut, and became friends by communicating through Instagram. Over time, she got closer with Bonsall and by the time they met in person for the first time, they clicked immediately.
Around sophomore year of high school, Bridgens and all of the gymnasts that were recruited to come to Penn State planned a trip where they all could visit campus the same weekend.
Along with meeting fellow recruits, going to dinner and watching a gymnastics meet, Bridgens also met Bonsall in person that weekend for the first time.
"It was definitely a lot of fun because obviously you meet someone on social media, it's different meeting them in person but we just immediately were like super comfortable around each other and since we had already kind of talked there was never like any awkwardness or anything, we just automatically fit together really well," Bridgens said.
She is very similar in ways to Bonsall but there are differences as well.
While Bonsall may remind her about something she has going on, Bridgens will be the one to calm her friend down if she forgets something, according to Penn State head coach Sarah Brown.
On her own Bridgens is funny and enjoys laughing, but Brown didn't know every part of that humor until an official visit for incoming recruits last year.
Bridgens was a freshman at the time and was hosting a recruit at a team dinner, where Brown was in attendance. The then first-year Penn State coach was caught off guard when Bridgens started "whipping out" one-liners at the event.
"I was like 'I've never even heard this kid talk'," she said.
Although Brown had coached Bridgens in practice on balance beam, she didn't expect that side because her star gymnast was so efficient in her actions. Brown would give her the assignment on beam, then she would execute it and leave just as quickly to get to the next event.
Brown got another great opportunity to talk with Bridgens and learn more about her when they traveled together to the 2018 NCAA Championships in St. Louis, Missouri last spring.
"She loves being around people. She'd rather be with her friends than be alone," Brown said. "She's constantly on FaceTime rather than just talking on the phone, she wants to see your face."
Bridgens is a great student with a great GPA, who's always one of the first people to volunteer to do things in the community. From signing autographs to taking pictures with kids, Brown has gotten a chance to see who Bridgens is.
"I genuinely feel her gratefulness for being here," Brown said. "She's living I would say her best life here at Penn State and she's got a great balance between gymnastics and school and her social life and her friends and she's just a fun person to be around."
Brown also learned how to help Bridgens if she needs to be supported or makes a mistake at a meet.
Bridgens had a "wonky' warmup before a meet freshman year, where she didn't look normal, so the coaching staff approached her and asked about it.
First Brown talked with her.
"'Hey what's going on? What are you feeling?'," Brown asked.
But Bridgens couldn't verbalize what was wrong.
So, the staff continued to keep asking to try and figure out what was going on.
Assistant coach Dallas Becerra asked next. Still no answer. Then assistant coach Rob Drass tried. Still nothing.
Her teammates told her "You're fine, you're fine," but she was just overwhelmed by it all.
Bridgens went on to compete but did not perform well at that meet. When Brown got on the team's bus and asked "What happened?", Bridgens finally had an answer.
"The more you ask me what was wrong and the more you ask me like how I was feeling and the more people told me I was fine, the worst it got like I just couldn't take it like I knew I was fine and then everyone started telling me I was fine and I started wondering if I was still fine," Bridgens said to Brown.
What the team learned from that meet and has learned about Bridgens from spending time with her is that as long as she is smiling and laughing, she'll be fine.
"I do better when I just like relax and let my body do what it knows how to do so during meets like literally the whole team will sit there and just keep me laughing, keep me having fun and I rely on them so much to like just keep talking to me about random stuff that has nothing to do with gymnastics at all," she said.
"What I've learned about her is that gymnastics is something that she does, it's not who she is and when she goes out and has fun doing what she loves, she's an incredible competitor," Brown added.
This season Bridgens has put together a special year competing in the all-around, where she set a career-high 39.525 score in late January. She recently earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for a second year in a row for her performances and as Penn State heads into the postseason, the team knows what to do to help Bridgens be her at best.
"Just they're always keeping me laughing and like the coaches supporting me, everyone working together all at once just makes it so much more fun," Bridgens said. "I feel like that's something that we really focused on this year so I think that's what kind of keeps it fun and interesting."
As the postseason moves on Bridgens and the Nittany Lions will look to keep it fun. If they do, there's no saying what she and the team can do.
