Lady Lions to host PA championship

It's not often a gymnastics meet has seven teams competing at the same time. Sure, the Big Ten, regional and NCAA championships have that amount or even more but rarely does it occur during the regular season.

However, Penn State will have the honor of hosting the first annual Pennsylvania championships at 7 tonight in Rec Hall. Along with the Lady Lions, West Chester, Ursinus, Temple, Pittsburgh, Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Wilson will compete for supremacy of women's gymnastics in the state.

With four events going on simultaneously in Rec Hall, Lady Lion coach Steve Shephard said the atmosphere will be quite hectic. In addition, it will give the team a chance to gauge what it will be like once tournament time arrives next month.

"We're going to use this as a warm-up for regionals," Shephard said.

The team Shephard believes will give the Lady Lions tough competition is Pitt. The two teams saw each other at the Cat Classic, with the Panthers placing fourth and Penn State third. Shephard said his squad realizes Pitt has one of its best teams and is ready for the challenge.

"We expect them to be gunning for us pretty hard," he said.

The meet will also be the final one for seniors Bea Selz, Leigh Cappello and Nicole Malinak. Shephard said it will be a bittersweet moment for the three, as it will be their last time competing in Rec Hall. However, after the season they will be looking forward to the rest of their lives.

"I'm trying not to think about it until after the meet," Selz said. "It does make me sad, but I'm excited for it."

If Penn State competes as it did last weekend against Utah, it should be in prime position to win the championship. By far, the best event last weekend and, perhaps the whole season, was floor.

Saturday, no Penn State gymnast scored below 9.75, while the team broke the event's school record with a 49.150, and sophomore Ellen Casey shattered the Penn State all-time mark with a 9.925.

Selz said the team was happy with its performance on floor last weekend and felt it created a "positive snowball," in which each gymnast fed off the preceding one.

"It made us want to do it again," she said.

Another promising sign for the Lady Lions was the performance on bars by junior Joanna Knox. Since returning to the lineup from an ankle injury earlier this month, Knox has improved each week. She said her ankle is about 85 to 90 percent, and she has done some tumbling and a little work on vault but probably will not compete on the event for a few more weeks.

Against Utah, she nailed her routine, and a loud applause followed her solid dismount.

"It was the first time I made it through the whole routine," Knox said. "I'm starting to feel comfortable with my bar routine. I think as a whole I'm feeling a lot better, and it will only help me as time goes on."