During the 2001 season, Penn State gymnast Katie Rowland was featured in Sports Illustrated's "Faces in the Crowd" section.
In competition, however, the 2002 Big Ten all-around champion has become anything but an average contestant.
Led by Rowland's top all-around score of 39.400, the Penn State women's gymnastics team, with a score of 195.075, defeated both the University of Denver, which hosted the match and collected 194.175 points, and Iowa State, which totaled 192.600 points, Saturday in a triangular meet between three top-25 teams.
Opening the match on the balance beam, Penn State resembled Wile E. Coyote, falling three times and failing to gain the upper hand.
"After our falls, it would have been easy to let our positive balloon be popped into nothing," Penn State women's gymnastics assistant coach Jessica Bastardi said.
Unlike the luckless coyote, however, Penn State ensnared its opponents with a flawless floor routine and picture-perfect vault exercise.
"We weren't very good on the beam, but we turned it around on the floor," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said. "We got the positive momentum going, then took it into the vault, and did really well."
Of the 1,367 fans in attendance, many arrived just to see Colorado native Kelly Streicher. As Streicher's name was announced, the crowd rose to give the junior co-captain a standing ovation.
"It was awesome, because there were a bunch of people I knew from home in the stands," said Streicher, who earned a 9.800 on the bars.
Penn State took control of the vault and uneven bars, winning both events with a 49.100 and 48.875, respectively. Ranked No. 8 and owning the nation's highest-ranked floor exercise, Denver (3-1) was deterred by injury. With senior co-captain Jacquelyn Young suffering from a wrist injury and junior Emily Bankhead unable to compete, Denver posted a season-low score of 47.700 on the uneven bars.
"It just wasn't our best tonight," Denver women's gymnastics coach Melissa Kutcher-Rinehart said.
Rowland fronted the Nittany Lion charge on the vault, bars, and floor, with Meredith Hoover tallying a 9.850 on the beam. According to Rowland, the team was excited to battle against two ranked teams.
"Our intensity level was really high, and we wanted to go out and prove that we could compete with Denver and Iowa State," Rowland said.
No. 11 Iowa State (1-3) was directed by freshman Erin Dethloff, who accumulated 39.300 total points for the Cyclones.
After a sloppy New Hampshire meet, Penn State looked to hone its talents on the uneven bars.
Attacking the bars, the gymnastics team hit 18 consecutive landings in practice and rolled into the Rockies in stride. With Rowland earning a 9.875, along with scores of 9.800 from Katie McAvoy and Streicher, the practice evidently paid off.
