UNIVERSITY PARK Pa. – While the 2022 women's gymnastics regular season aproaches the end of the season, Penn State gymnasts are not done yet.
Yielding four qualifiers for NCAA regionals, the Nittany Lions' Lauren Bridgens and Alissa Bonsall, Cassidy Rushlow, and Isabella Salcedo received the opportunity to represent Penn State in the NCAA women's gymnastics postseason.
All four gymnasts enter the postseason as excited as ever. Junior Cassidy Rushlow mentioned how much the moment means and what she is hoping to go do.
"It's really special the four of us get to go to regionals," she said. "I just want to go out there and have fun. With COVID and everything I feel like it made us all realize that this could be taken away from us. We might not always have that opportunity, so it's easy to look forward to."
For Lauren Bridgens and Alissa Bonsall, this will be their last season competing. Both claim despite it being the case, they know they have to keep a focused mindset.
"I know this year I kind of put a lot of pressure on myself in the beginning since I haven't competed in so long and I was just so eager and excited," said Bridgens. "But this year I decided to just take in every moment and have fun with it. So, to be able to qualify for regionals and have one last go at it is just special to me and I'm looking forward to it"
"We don't want to put too much pressure on ourselves," she added. "We just want to go in, have fun with the team and just stay in the moment and enjoy the experiences that we've had for the past five years."
Isabella Salcedo is a freshman at Penn State and she will be competing at her first NCAA women's gymnastics regional. Her three upper-classmen peers are more than confident in her ability to make an impact at the 2022 regionals.
"I really don't think Izzy needs to be prepared, she's a stud," said Bridgens. "She has so much experience from her past too. She doesn't even need us there but were going to be there to support her no matter what. For her to qualify as a freshman is something for her to be very proud of and I think she knows that. To have a very young leader on this team is something Penn State can look forward to the future too."
Salcedo is looking forward to soaking in the moment with other top competitors.
"I think going into this year I was trying to get a sense of how college gymnastics worked and everything like that," she said. "So, I think to have made it this far with that mindset was very special and it really reiterated why [I] do college gymnastics. We are the best of the best, being able to be around all of the other people who have accomplished that too is amazing."
Salcedo claims that having a positive experience at regionals is one of her main goals.
"I think my main goal was to get to the postseason and now that it's here I can just sit back, enjoy the spotlight and take it all in."
These four gymnasts have accomplished so much just by being here, but the accolades aren't what it's all about for these four competitors. The three upperclassmen have used their previous experience and accomplishments to help their mindset going into the competition.
"Obviously we always want to do our best and we always want to win," said Bridgens. "We work so hard in the gym every day so if we just go into the meet and do what we do in the gym and do our jobs the accolades will come. It is really exciting when you get those big achievements like that, but as long as we stay in the moment, be normal, and do our jobs, the success will come."
"Going in every single day and doing your job comes with it," added Rushlow. "Going into the postseason it's the same thing. Sure, you want the accolades but it's really about self-improvement and going out there and trying to do better than you did before."
Bonsall adds, "Just knowing that you are enough and that you can continue to go even further into the postseason. There are big teams there, but we deserve to be just as successful as they are. The previous success and accomplishments we have had just add to the confidence we have built."
The four gymnasts will be representing Penn State as well as themselves during regionals. Making their mark this week is a point of emphasis, but the athletes know that if they keep a calm mindset and enjoy the moment they will be set up for success.
