SAN ANTONIO, Texas – No. 9 Penn State women’s gymnastics earned a 196.100 team total score to place second of five teams at the Lone Star Collegiate Invitational in the Freeman Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Auburn took the team title with a 196.775 followed by the Nittany Lions at 196.100. Maryland placed third in the meet with a 195.400 with Arizona State (194.750) and Temple (192.350) taking fourth and fifth.
Penn State received multiple standout performances, notably an event-winning 9.9 on beam for junior Amani Herring. The 9.9 tally is the Nittany Lions’ first of the 2025 season and propelled her team to a season-best beam score. An outstanding finish on floor pushed Penn State over the 196.000 barrier for the first time this season. All five of Penn State’s counted routines were 9.8-or-better as the group completed the fifth rotation with its highest score on any event this season.
ROTATION RECAP
Penn State opened with its vault rotation, which was led by a pair of 9.8 totals from Kalea McElligott and Jessica Johanson. Both Elizabeth Leary and Maddie Johnston also added 9.775 scores to help the Nittany Lions to a 48.850 event total.
Following a bye in rotation two, Penn State posted a 48.950 on bars in the third rotation of the afternoon, fronted by Leary, who posted a career-best 9.85, the second-highest bars score of the meet. In her collegiate debut, Dani Latronica finished second on the team with a 9.825 while Johnston secured a 9.8.
In the fourth rotation, Penn State received a spectacular 9.9 from Amani Herring on balance beam. The tally was the Nittany Lions’ first 9.9+ score on any apparatus this season and won Herring a share of the event title. Johnston anchored the squad with a season-best 9.85 while Ashley Maul and Latronica each collected 9.8 scores. Penn State finished with a 49.125, its highest score on any event so far in 2025 before it moved to floor.
The Nittany Lions’ finish on floor was about as strong as it could be in the early going of the season. Penn State put up an impressive 49.175, beating its beam total for the highest it had recorded on any event in 2025. Leading the way was Johanson with a season-best 9.875 while McElligott also recorded her highest floor score of the season, going 9.85. Maul and Herring tallied 9.825s while Leary earned a 9.8. The event was Penn State’s first of the season in which all five counted routines were at or above the 9.8 threshold.
Leary finished as Penn State’s only all-around competitor, earning herself a 39.000. Other than a small mishap on balance beam, Leary set career-best scores on vault and bars and tied her career high on floor.
WHAT'S NEXT
The Nittany Lions travel to Minnesota for a dual meet with the 24th-ranked Gophers at 5 p.m. ET on Saturday, Jan. 18.
FOLLOW THE NITTANY LIONS
Follow along with the team on our social media pages on Facebook (PennStateWomensGymnastics) and X/Instagram (@pennstatewgym).