Gymwomen place third in tri-meet against Stanford, UCLA

By GWENN MILLER
Collegian Staff Writer

Heading into this weekend's meet, the Penn State women's gymnastics team had defeated some of the nation's best teams, even one with a higher ranking.

But on Friday night, the favor was returned to the Lady Lions.

At No. 8 Stanford's Maples Pavilion, No. 5 Penn State scored a 191.65, good enough for third place out of the three teams competing at the Chili's "Red Hot" Invitational. Stanford (5-1) won the meet with a score of 194.05, ahead of second-place No. 10 UCLA, which scored a 193.9.

Earlier in the season UCLA and Penn State met at Rec Hall with the Bruins (7-3) ranked No. 4 and the Lions in the position of underdog. Penn State rose to the occasion and won that meet, beating UCLA by less than half a point.

This weekend the roles were reversed and it was the Lions (5-2) who were toppled from their top-five spot.

In Penn State's first defeat of the season, there were many questions raised by both coaches and team members as to what exactly went wrong and what could be improved.

"I can't speak for everyone, but it seemed like people were trying too hard," said senior tri-captain Ellen Casey. "We're not putting the blame on people for lack of effort, but maybe the effort was focused in the wrong way."

Casey went on to say that the routines were somewhat shaky and not at their best, but that was not the entire problem. The equipment at the Pavilion was also a negative factor.

Coach Steve Shephard concurred.

"We just had a bad night and the team had a tough time adjusting to the equipment," he said.

The actual floor of the Pavilion was the problem, especially during the floor exercise. According to Shephard, the mats were placed directly on top of the basketball court that has springs under it. On dismounts from the uneven bars, the floor would vibrate and anyone in the near vicinity could feel the ground shake.

This created problems during Penn State's landings on the floor exercise, and the Lions counted three falls in the event they usually excel at. While the poor condition of the floor is partly to blame, Shephard said it was only part of the reason for the loss.

"(After the meet), I said we needed to do a better job of handling situations that aren't ideal," he said.

Other team members agreed that mentality had a big impact on the outcome. After the meet, the captains held a brief meeting and told the team to sit back and give some thought as to what can be done to avoid another performance like that one.

"Mentally, we weren't there and we were just going through the motions," said freshman Nikki Bongiovanni.

Fellow freshman Jennifer Drilling said the team is thinking of ways to improve, but at the same time it also wants to stay motivated. She added that the motivation would be essential in working through the tough spot.

Fortunately for the Lions, they have faced adversity before and have come out on top. According to Casey, the team is still focused and will not let this affect future performances.

The truth in Casey's words will play out in two weeks at The Bryce Jordan Center, when Penn State will face No. 1-ranked Alabama. That meet will provide the Lions another chance to prove they can beat the odds as underdogs, defeat a higher-ranked team, and maybe most importantly, regain their confidence.