The performance of the Penn State women's gymnastics team at Saturday's Northeast Regional Championship followed suit with the rest of its season — a season filled with injury and misfortune.

Uncharacteristic mistakes from their top athletes placed the Lions in fifth place with a 192.225 and with no hopes of continuing as a team to the NCAA Championships April 19-21. The score was the Lions' lowest of the season.

However, Penn State still had high hopes that junior Katie Rowland could advance to the finals as an individual. Rowland finished first in the all-around at the Big Ten Championships March 23 and competed as an individual in the floor exercise last season at the NCAA Championships.

But the success Rowland has had all season didn't continue when she needed it the most. Rowland fell on both floor and beam scoring a 9.275 and a 9.15, respectively. Rowland's fall on floor isn't something her teammates or coaches are used to seeing. Rowland said she felt she was too far back on her preflight, so she opened up early to compensate. In doing so, she misjudged the landing and her momentum pulled her to the floor.

"It's a fluke kind of thing," Rowland said about the fall. "It never happens, but today it did. It was just an off day."

Rowland's fall on beam was one of three for the Lions on the apparatus, forcing them to count two falls. Fellow juniors Katie McAvoy and Lisa Campagnolo also fell, earning scores of 9.100 and 9.325, respectively.

Despite the falls, Rowland still had a chance to place as an individual in the NCAA Tournament after earning a 9.900 on vault. The Lions competed on vault in the second rotation and Rowland led on the event until Nebraska's A.J. Lamb scored a 9.925 in the fifth rotation, dashing Rowland's chance of competing as an individual. Individuals only advance to the NCAA Tournament if they have the top score on an event and they are not part of a qualifying team. Rowland's score earned her second place honors in the event. In addition, she tied for fifth place on bars with a 9.775.

"Of course it's disappointing not qualifying for nationals because that's one of your main goals as a team to strive for during the year," Rowland said. "But I think we were just focusing on doing what we could do as a team...As we've been saying all year, we've been faced with a lot of adversity injury-wise, but I think we can look back on this season and learn a lot from it."

In addition to Rowland's performance, Penn State's Leslie Bair finished tied for fourth place on beam with a 9.825. Bair had a solid meet, scoring a 38.425, the highest all-around score of the Lions who competed in all four events.

While Penn State's season ended this weekend, two teams, along with three individuals, advanced to the finals to compete with the teams that qualified this weekend in other regional competitions. Coming into the meet, No. 5 Michigan, No. 8 Nebraska and No. 16 Iowa knew it would be a close call as to what two teams advanced. The Hawkeyes led the meet through three events, but it was Nebraska's performance on vault that shot it ahead of the competition. The Huskers scored a 49.400 in the fifth rotation to finish with a 195.925 for the night. While Nebraska sat out the final rotation, Iowa and Michigan each had one more event to compete on. Iowa led Michigan by .200 going into the final event.

But after scoring a 49.100 on vault, Michigan took the lead and beat Iowa by .125, after the Hawkeyes scored a 48.775 on floor. Michigan finished with a 195.600, while Iowa finished with a 195.475. George Washington finished in fourth with a 192.675 while Pittsburgh finished behind Penn State with a 190.975.

"We've seen Michigan at Big Tens and we knew they were going to rock floor and vault," Iowa coach Mike Lorenzen said. "When we moved to floor we felt a sense of destiny since it was our strongest event all year. I can't complain though or be sad about our final results."

Iowa's top two all-arounders, Alexis Maday and Annie Rue, will now travel to the national championship and compete in the all-around competition as individuals. In addition, Rutger's Courtney Turner will compete as an individual on floor after finishing tied for first in the event with a 9.900.

But for Penn State the season is over. After the meet, Lions coach Steve Shephard said the Lions next task is getting ready for next year.

"We just have to regroup," Shephard said. "What's done is done, this year is over, and we can't look back with regret."