University Park, Pa.- The Nittany Lions started the first meet of the 2020 season with strong performances Jan. 4, but knew they had a ways to go in certain areas following the trip home from California.
Lauren Bridgens started that Collegiate Challenge meet on floor with a 9.825. Followed by Alissa Bonsall with a 9.725. Then, Melissa Astarita and Tess McCracken posted a 9.675, Erynne Allen posted an 8.750, and Cassidy Rushlow finished with an 8.550. As a team, Penn State finished with a 47.650 on floor that meet.
Less than a month later, the Nittany Lions have made a jump.
Penn State recorded a 49.375 on floor against the Hawkeyes last Saturday — a 2020 season high. In almost a month, Penn State has done a full turn around, and the focus from an assistant coach on the floor routine has helped lead the way.
Penn State added assistant coach Ashleigh Gnat, a 17 time All-American at LSU, to the gymnastics family this past offseason. Gnat grew up in a family of renowned gymnasts, and near the end of her competing career she was not ready to leave gymnastics quite yet.
"As I became a senior, I started to realize that I was not ready to leave the sport," Gnat said. "I started thinking about coaching, and what I wanted that to look like. What I learned at LSU is the team aspect, the camaraderie, the leadership and things along those lines. That's what kind of pushed me into wanting to be a college coach."
When hiring Gnat, head coach Sarah Brown saw the experience and work ethic she carried with her. Having recently graduated from LSU in 2017 and being a graduate assistant coach for two years after graduation, Brown knew the girls would connect with Gnat.
"She's eager to learn, and she's super passionate about gymnastics," Brown said. "She loves the opportunity to connect with and build relationships with our student-athletes. I think as like I said, such a highly-talented gymnast who's experienced so much at such a high level, she's very relatable to our athletes because she's so young and she's energetic. Just two years ago, she was still competing, and she can still tell you what her experience was like as a competitor. That's invaluable."
Following the first meet's floor performance, Brown saw the persistence to get better from her gymnasts and Gnat. A fire came out of everyone to not get a 47.650 again, raising the level of consistency and confidence.
"Obviously the Collegiate Challenge in California was not our best representation of our floor lineup," Brown said. "I think that actually motivated Ashleigh more than ever, because the team was prepared going in. I would have never put up a team that wasn't prepared to execute the way that we thought we would. It really helped us to take an internal look at what we were doing and how we were executing our training plan."
Senior Kristen Politz has always enjoyed floor and is excited seeing the team's progression throughout January. As the season continues, Politz is ready to continue to work harder to continue to grow off of the last performance.
"I think we're excited," Politz said. "I think we reached a point and now we want to do more and see how much higher we can go. Hopefully building on that process and just engaging more with the crowd too."
As Gnat and the Nittany Lions continue to set the bar higher and higher for themselves, Gnat reflects on some of the best advice she has received. A large part of the floor routine for her athletes, and being successful as a coach, is performing not only one's skills, but most importantly staying true to who they are.
"[Sarah] always reminds me to be myself, and not trying to be someone else, not be something that I'm not," Gnat said. "[Sarah's] like, 'I want you to be the most authentic version of you.' Her telling me that and reassuring me that I am enough and everything that I'm doing here is enough, is it's awesome like she's a great boss. I am always reminded of that, and she's really great at expressing herself authentically and true to who she is."
With a strong leader in Brown, an experienced newcomer in Gnat, and talented athletes, the Nittany Lions are ready to see where the rest of 2020 takes them.
