FORT WORTH, Texas – Senior Cassidy Rushlow and freshman Ava Piedrahita of the Penn State women's gymnastics team (10-9, 3-6 Big Ten) finished off their outstanding seasons in individual competition this afternoon at the 2023 Women's National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships.
Piedrahita collected a 9.875 on the vault and Rushlow earned a 9.825 on uneven bars in their final competition of the 2023 season.
"What an awesome way to close out a historic season," said head coach Sarah Brown. "I'm so proud of the work that Ava and Cassidy put in all year and today, they represented Penn State with confidence and poise. The future is truly bright for these two and this program!"
Piedrahita's score tied the fifth-best vault tally for a Penn State gymnast in the National Championships and is the best since Sharaya Musser posted a 9.9 at the National meet in 2010. Rushlow's total tied the ninth-best bars score for a Nittany Lion gymnast in the National Championships and is the best since Lauren Bridgens earned the Naitonal Championships school record with a 9.875 in 2018.
LSU took the top spot overall in session I of the semifinal round, scoring a 197.475. Florida, the winner of the Pittsburgh Regional, took second place and advanced to the finals with a score of 197.400. On the vault, Lynnzee Brown of Denver and Courtney Blackson of Boise State earned the No. 1 spot in the session with 9.925 scores, with Piedrahita coming in sixth with her 9.875. Trinity Thomas of Florida earned the top score on bars with a 9.95 with Rushlow tying for 19th in the session.
Both Rushlow and Piedrahita qualified for the National Championships for the first time in their respective careers, becoming the first Nittany Lions to advance to the championships since 2019. The Nittany Lion duo capped off historic seasons for the blue & white with solid showings at the National Championships.
Brown's Nittany Lions finished the regular season with a 10-9 record and a No. 25 ranking in the RoadToNationals poll. Penn State jumped 15 spots from last year's final tally, one of the largest one-year jumps in all of college gymnastics this season. The Nittany Lions concluded the team portion of their season in the semifinals of the Pittsburgh Regional, earning a regional program record 196.825 to close out their campaign.
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