Last season at this time the Penn State women's gymnastics team was suffering from constant plaguing injuries and a dismal last-place finish at the Big Ten Championships. However, this season has shown an entirely different outcome and an entirely different team.

After a third-place finish at this past weekend's Big Ten Championships, the team is feeling better than ever.

"It finally shows what kind of team we are," senior Katie McAvoy said. "Our meets before, that wasn't us. We just never put it together and now we finally put it together and it is good to put it together at this meet so people at Regionals will recognize us."

If the team's goal was to make an impression on other coaches and teams, it can post a 10.0. Michigan women's gymnastics coach Beverly Plocki said Penn State did fantastic.

"This was one of the best teams Penn State has fielded in quite some time," Plocki said. "They really improved their skill level and had high quality execution." With a season that never saw Penn State compete at the highest level it could, the team eclipsed its 195.875 score earned against Ohio State and posted a notable 196.650. Besides setting a new season high, the team picked a good time to begin competing at its highest level.

"To finally go out there and show the other teams what we can do was great," senior Nikki Bongiovanni said. "It felt really good impressing everyone that was there."

Even though Katie Rowland came away with all of the honors, the victory took a complete team effort. For instance, after posting a 49.100 on the floor exercise, and a 49.150 on the vault, the Nittany Lions moved to the two toughest events in gymnastics competition -- the unpredictable uneven bars and the dreaded balance beam.

"It is a lot easier to finish on vault or floor than on bars and beam," said Penn State women's gymnastics assistant coach Jessica Bastardi.

However, the team scored a solid combined 49.150 on the bars and then moved to an event that had troubled the Lions in the past. Although, this night the team would overcome its troubles and post its highest team score (49.250) in an event during the competition. The team score was also the second highest score on beam in the championships, just under Big Ten Champion Michigan's score of a 49.450.

"We stayed strong on bars and beam and we did it as a team," Bastardi said. "It was a total team effort."

Now the team will get a chance to work on the minute details of perfecting its routines for the rest of its season.

"It is a lot easier to improve on the smaller details now and being able to focus on that before Regionals makes it easier on the mind and it is so refreshing," senior co-captain Leslie Bair said.

With that in mind, the gymnasts will be looking to improve on their new season high as they prepare to take the next step during the most crucial time in a collegiate gymnasts career.

"The best thing about tonight was that we were great and we all know that we can still be better," Penn State women's gymnastics assistant coach Jessica Bastardi said.

"This is another stepping stone for us and we are up on this step and ready to make the next step."