With the No. 18 Penn State women's gymnastics team (8-5, 1-0 Big Ten) needing a clutch performance in the floor exercise to secure a victory over Ohio State this past weekend, one gymnast stepped up to the challenge.

Senior Katie McAvoy altered her floor routine to help the good of the team and ended up scoring a 9.850 that earned her second place in the event.

"McAvoy was key," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said. "She warmed up a double Arabian, which is an [Elite] level tumbling pass and wasn't making any of them, but she had done a great job in practice all week and I felt she had earned my support for her to do that skill tonight. After warm-ups she came to me and said, 'I am just going to do the double pike,' which I thought showed a lot of maturity on her part and a willingness for her to take one for the team so to speak."

McAvoy's sacrifice to better her team is only one piece of the puzzle that constructs her life as a gymnast. The Winnipeg, Manitoba, native began her gymnastics career at the young age of three.

"I couldn't fall asleep at night," McAvoy said. "I had too much energy so my parents put me in gymnastics."

She had found her calling and began to take advantage of her talent. As she matured into a young woman, McAvoy, at the age of 13, had the opportunity to compete on the Canadian National Junior Team in 1994 and 1995. She went on to become a part of the Canadian National Team in 1996, 1997 and 1998. With her high school days gone, McAvoy needed to make a decision of what to do next.

"I had gone to World Championships and I just felt that I wanted a change because I have been in the Canadian system for so long," she said.

This change would come about in an interesting way.

"I didn't know about college gymnastics," McAvoy said. "[Recruiting information] went to my club gym [Panthers Gymnastics Club] and I guess they kind of hid it from me because they wanted me to do another world championship, the Olympics, and they didn't want me to go anywhere. Then Lisa Campagnolo, who used to be on the [Penn State] team, was like, 'Where are you going' and I was like, 'I don't know, nobody has recruited me.' She was like, 'Well I'm going to Penn State.' "

After contacting Penn State and being impressed by its facilities, the team, and the coaching staff, McAvoy knew that being a Nittany Lion would not be a bad thing.

"When I came down here, they were playing music in the gym, they were sitting down, and there were guys in the gym," McAvoy said. "I was like, 'Wow this is a totally different world,' because we weren't allowed to talk, sit down, and there was no music [allowed in the gyms in Canada]."

Adjusting to the new lifestyle of a college student and gymnast in the United States would prove a rather interesting experience for McAvoy.

"I think TK [Katie Rowland], who was my roommate, and I really got caught up in the outside of gym aspects our freshman year by going out a little too much and having a little too much fun," said McAvoy laughing. "Then we finally realized that you are here to do gymnastics and go to school and you can do all that other stuff that we were doing when you are done."

After molding to the lifestyle of a Lion gymnast, McAvoy began to establish herself as a prominent performer. Last season, she tied the all-time record for a performance on the uneven bars (9.950) against Illinois. She also holds career highs of 9.925 on vault, 9.925 on the balance beam, 9.900 three times on the floor exercise, and a combined all-around score of 39.525.

"I am proud of her and the progress that she has made throughout her whole career here at Penn State," Shephard said. "She has made an amazing transformation from her freshman year to now."

McAvoy's success can be attributed to her hard work ethic and her being a perfectionist in the gym.

"She sets a really high standard for working really hard and working really efficiently," Penn State women's gymnastics assistant coach Jessica Bastardi said. "She is always the first one done with a plan, always, and so therefore if she is the first one done with a plan, then she can get more numbers in, do more drills and do more things to get better."

She demonstrates her work ethic by staying in the weight room longer than her teammates on an early Monday morning and sometimes being stubborn in perfecting her routines in the gym.

"It's a double-edged sword because at times it's a point of diminishing returns where you should cut your losses and move on," Shephard said. "Usually her attitude is not to say time to move on. Her attitude usually is, 'I am going to do it come hell or high water,' and sometimes she can be a little hard-headed in a good way."

Besides working constantly to make herself better, McAvoy can be seen flashing her smile everywhere she goes and adding humor to a stressful sport.

"She has a presence about her that people want to be around her because she is so fun," Bastardi said.

As her final season winds down, it will not end McAvoy's involvement in gymnastics. At the end of May, she will find herself back in Canada doing Canadian Nationals for a week.

"I am excited about [Nationals]," said McAvoy, smiling. "If it was up to me, I would be here [at Penn State] until I was 80 years old."

When McAvoy's name is announced for the last time as a Penn State gymnast, it will put the final touches on her prolific career as a Lion.

"She is the greatest kid, she is awesome, she is very outgoing, very vibrant, enthusiastic, passionate, loves gymnastics, loves Penn State," Shephard said. "She has been an incredible team leader just by example and verbally as well and we are going to really miss her."