UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Today, in Fort Worth, Texas, senior Cassidy Rushlow and freshman Ava Piedrahita will compete in the 2023 Women's National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships as individual qualifiers on uneven bars and vault, respectively.
Although the Nittany Lions did not qualify for nationals in the team competition, Rushlow and Piedrahita will still be able to represent the blue & white on collegiate gymnastics' biggest stage and rest assured in the fact that their teammates will be cheering them on from back home.
"The support is there as if they were there with us," Rushlow said. "It definitely looks different, but I feel like it's the same."
Throughout the season, the team culture has come up again and again as a driving force behind each and every competition for the squad. In the final month of the 2023 campaign, the Nittany Lions cracked the top ten all-time team scores in program history twice, becoming the only squad in school history with two scores on that list. For Rushlow and Piedrahita, the team totals resulted from a fun-loving vibe from a group that did not quit on each other.
"I feel like this is the most fun of a season I have had here," Rushlow, the fourth-year senior, continued. "The culture on our team is so much fun, and we do our best when we're having fun."
For each member of the team, this year has been all about keeping the morale high, focusing on having fun, locking in, and giving it their all.
"As the season went on, we just built off each success we had," Piedrahita added. "We built our confidence too, and we had a bunch of fun as a team."
In the end, the individual successes of Rushlow and Piedrahita are also thanks, in part, to the achievement of their own personal goals and benchmarks. As a true freshman, Piedrahita entered her first season just looking to be a constant in head coach Sarah Brown's lineup here in Happy Valley. She finished the team portion of her season having competed in the all-around in all 14 competitions for the Nittany Lions, achieving her individual goal, and much more. The newcomer gave credit to her teammates and coaches for the work they put in at practice day in and day out.
"My main goal was consistency," Piedrahita explained. "In practice, we did so many numbers [reps] to build up the confidence and consistency as a team, and I feel like everyone really connected."
As a senior, Rushlow took it upon herself to make that connection with all of her teammates. In a sport where technical prowess is built up over time from a very young age, the emotional support, encouragement, and trust coming from the team's leaders during the current season of competition goes a long way.
"This is the most I've seen on a team that everyone connects, and we have each other's backs," Rushlow said. "But I feel like technical stuff, I know [my teammate's] got it, I know she is here for a reason so we don't [technically coach each other] as often as you might in a different sport."
Blue & white team 59 has been all about supporting each other, but also trusting in each other's skills. So although the whole team won't be there, Rushlow and Piedrahita are confident in their abilities that have led them to a level that no gymnast on their current team has experienced before: the National Collegiate Championships.
"It's really exciting and we're really excited and grateful to go, but we aren't just happy to be going," Rushlow said. "We're going to work, and we want to do well while we're there."
That mentality of not being satisfied is what forged the path for Rushlow and Piedrahita to become the first Nittany Lions to qualify for the national meet since 2019. It has all come down to the preparation and training.
"We've trained since June/July for this moment," Piedrahita said.
The duo will have a chance to showcase all the hard work from the team's record-breaking season today at the 2023 Women's National Collegiate Gymnastics Championships.
Rushlow left with one line encapsulating the pair's desire to represent Penn State women's gymnastics in the best way, on the biggest stage:
"We're still dancing."
