The weekend brought a lot of firsts for the Penn State women's gymnastics team — first place finishes on each events, two new team records, and a new school record in the individual all-around competition.

The Nittany Lions were back on track Saturday after a third place finish Feb. 10 at West Virginia — a finish that the team was not too pleased about.

"We talked after West Virginia and they realized they were putting too much pressure on themselves," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said. "Regardless of who we are competing against we have to compete with the same poise we had in this meet."

The No. 12 Nittany Lions defeated Rhode Island 196.775-193.150.

Penn State finished first on each event with scores of 48.950 on vault, 49.375 on bars, 49.650 on beam and a 48.800 on floor. Penn State's score on both beam and bars set new school records in the events. The team beat the previous record of 49.350 on bars set against Alabama on Feb. 19, 1999 and its score of 49.550 on beam set at the Big Ten Championships on March 18, 2000.

"We really wanted to go in and have fun and treat it like a home meet," Penn State sophomore Leslie Bair said.

"We didn't put as much pressure on ourselves. Our practices the whole last week really prepared us for competition."

Sophomore Katie Rowland placed first in three of the four events including bars, vault, and floor and placed first in the all-around setting a new school record with a 39.650. Rowland tied the school record on bars with a 9.950.

"Everyone looked a lot more calm and confident up there and that made the difference," Rowland said. Freshman Richelle Simpson and senior co-captain Maria Taylor also added to the team's first place finishes tying for first on the beam with a score of 9.975.

Their scores were personal bests for both gymnasts.

"I just think they competed with a lot of confidence — a lot of poise," Shephard said. "It was nice to hit our routines. We didn't count any falls. Twenty-three out of 24 hit which is exactly what we need to continue to do."

Both the gymnasts and the coach agree that the high point of the meet came when the Lions took to the vault. Katie McAvoy exhibitioned her harder vault, and Katie Rowland competed with her pike-half for the first time.

"Vaulting, even though the score didn't indicate it was the best we've done all year," Shephard said.

The win improves the team's overall record to 5-3.

The team is scheduled to host Massachusetts next at 7 p.m. Friday at Rec Hall.

"Our next meets won't be easy for us," Bair said.

"But we need to treat them like we did this weekend and be confident, and not be intimidated by any of the situations."