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No.
15 Lions Top Iowa State in Season Opener
A
monster edge on the vault, led by junior Randi Lau's (Honolulu, Hawaii)
individual event win helped the No. 15 Penn State women's gymnastics
team open their season with a 193.925-193.550 victory over Iowa State
on Sunday inside Hilton Coliseum.
Lau tied for the highest
individual score on any event when she stuck her vault and earned a
score of 9.825, tying Iowa State's Henrietta Green's score on the
uneven bars. The junior also tied for second in the all-around with
teammate Sidney Sanabria-Robles (Caguas, Puerto Rico), with both
gymnasts finishing with a four-event score of 38.825.
"We're
very proud of how we performed today," said head coach Jeff Thompson.
"We accomplished out goal of competing the way we practiced. We might
have held back a little bit on the first event, but we really did well
on the vault, floor exercise and balance beam. "
Iowa State won
three of the four events and Caitlin Brown won the all-around with a
score of 38.900. Green won the uneven bars (9.825) and tied with Milan
Ivory on the floor exercise (9.800), while Alex Marasco and Brown tied
for the balance beam (9.775) crown.
The Nittany Lions took the
lead from the start when they posted a score of 48.225 on the uneven
bars to the Cyclones score of 48.000 on the vault. Penn State added to
its lead in the second rotation when they notched a 48.625 team score
on the vault to Iowa State's 48.600 on the uneven bars.
After three rotations, however, PSU led by just .125 with just the
balance beam remaining.
With
Penn State on the balance beam and Iowa State on the floor exercise,
four Nittany Lions posted scores of 9.700 or better, including a 9.725
to close out the meet by senior Kassidy Stauder (Palmerton, Pa.), to
close out the season opening victory.
"We had a [slight] lead
entering our last event [balance beam] and we knew that we would need
to hit all of our routines," said Thompson. "Being able to get up there
and do that under pressure in the first meet of the year was
outstanding. I don't think the scores don't reflect how strong the
performance was, but it is a starting point for us."
Four of the
six competitors in the all-around donned blue and white leotards and
the duo of Lau and Sanabria-Robles posted identical scores of 38.825 to
finish second. Junior Krystal Welsh (Bowie, Md.) also had a nice
afternoon on all four events to finish fifth in her first all-around
since 2012 with a score of 38.525. Sophomore Samantha Musto (Mays
Landing, N.J.) also competed in the all-around, scoring 38.050.
"Randi
[Lau], Sidney [Sanabria-Robles] and Krystal [Welsh] were all three
outstanding for us today," Thompson said. "They did what they do every
day in practice. Krystal is such an even-tempered gymnast and she did
that today on all four events. Randi is a gamer and she showed that
today. She was solid on all four events today. Sidney understands that
competing can also be fun and she enjoys competition. She enjoyed
herself today and I hope that is something that becomes contagious with
our team."
Freshman Emma Sibson (Allen, Texas) finished third
overall on the vault in her first collegiate competition with a score
of 9.700. Fellow rookie, Nicole Medvitz (Paramus, N.J.) opened her
collegiate career by finishing tied for third on the balance beam with
a team-best score of 9.750.
"Emma [Sibson] was great on vault
and Nicole [Medvitz] was great on beam, just like we recruited them to
be," added Thompson. "That was great to see. Being here and feeling the
excitement of competition will really help them as we head to Kentucky
next weekend."
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