UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – The No. 24 Penn State women's gymnastics team (3-2, 0-0 Big Ten) will compete in Rec Hall for the first time in 2023 on Friday at 6 p.m. when it takes on Liu, Penn, and SCSU in a quad meet.
The meet will be streamed live on Big Ten Plus.
LIU (No. 34) and Penn (No. 39) both appear in the top 40 in the RoadToNationals rankings as teams head into the second week of the season. The Nittany Lions have already bested Penn in competition earlier this year at the Keystone Classic on Jan. 6. The Quakers boast the 18th-ranked score in the nation on beam thus far in 2023, however, Penn State's 17th-best bar ranking and 24th-best floor exercise score pace each team competing in Rec Hall on Friday night.
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A LOOK BACK AT OPENING WEEKEND
The Nittany Lions are coming off an opening weekend where they posted their best opening-meet score since 2012. The Nittany Lions then improved on their 195.475 from the Keystone Classic on Friday and scored a 195.875 at No. 13 Denver on Sunday.
Penn State's freshmen stole the show, as Amani Herring scored an incredible 9.925 on balance beam in her very first event of her first collegiate competition. Fellow newcomer Ava Piedrahita won the all-around with a score of 39.175 in her initial collegiate meet as well.
As a team, The Nittany Lions rank inside the top 35 in the country in every event following opening weekend.
VAULT – No. 35
The Nittany Lions posted three scores of 9.800 or better on the vault over the weekend, with Piedrahita (9.825), Jessica Johanson (9.825), and Herring (9.800) leading the way for Penn State.
BARS – No. 17
Penn State's top event over the weekend was its performance on the parallel bars. The Nittany Lions were paced by a huge season-best 9.900 score by junior transfer Gabbie Gallentine at the Denver tri-meet, while fellow junior Maddie Johnston posted two scores of 9.825 or better, with a season-high 9.850 performance at the Denver tri-meet supporting Gallentine's big 9.900.
BALANCE BEAM – No. 26
The Nittany Lions' 26th-best beam ranking is fronted by not one, but two freshmen. Herring stuck a 9.925 in her first event at her first collegiate meet to post Penn State's highest score on any event thus far into the season. Haleigh Gibble's career-best 9.850 is the second-highest score for the Nittany Lions as they head into Rec Hall tomorrow night.
Johanson's 9.700 on beam at Denver helped her to a 39.200 all-around score and her first ever all-around victory in just the second time she had competed on the balance beam in her career.
FLOOR – No. 24
The Nittany Lions scored 49.000 or better on the floor in both meets on opening weekend.
Johanson set another career-best mark, this time on the floor, with a 9.875 at both the Keystone Classic and Denver. 2022 NCAA Regional qualifier Isabella Salcedo competed on the floor for the first time in 2023 at the Keystone Classic and scored a 9.825 for the Nittany Lions.
Piedrahita used a 9.850 floor score at the Keystone Classic to solidify an all-around win with 39.175 points in her first collegiate competition.
All-Around
A Nittany Lion won the all-around title in each of the first two meets of the season.
Piedrahita took home the victory at the Keystone Classic with a 39.175 and Johanson posted a 39.200 to win the event at Denver. Additionally, Maddie Johnston competed well in all four events in both meets on opening weekend.
NEW FACES
The Nittany Lions added five gymnasts to the roster for the 2023 season. Herring, along with fellow freshmen Gibble, Piedrahita, and Katie Leary, joined Penn State's squad for the 2023 season.
Penn State also added junior transfer Gabbie Gallentine. The Florida transfer comes to Happy Valley after two years with the Gators and brings a career-best 9.95 bars score to bolster the Penn State group.
All five newcomers will see competition in Rec Hall for the first time on Friday night.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Penn State will hit the road following the opening weekend quad meet, and travel to Minnesota, for its first Big Ten dual meet of the 2023 campaign, on January 21 at 5 p.m. ET.
Follow along with the team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateWomensGymnastics) and Twitter/Instagram (@pennstatewgym).
