The Penn State women's gymnastics team didn't bring back any hardware last year. The Nittany Lions missed the opportunity by a slim margin, and the lone representative at the NCAA National Championships -- Lisa Clark, then a junior -- also missed an opportunity to reach the finals by a slight edge.
Penn State finished .375 points out of the second spot in the Northeast Regional meet last season, only the top two finishers in the regional meet are guaranteed a trip for the title and only the top 12 teams overall qualify.
Clark made the national meet after posting career bests at the regional meet on the vault and the floor exercise.
However, she fell short on day one of the meet, finishing in seventh place on the vault. Clark and the Lions are looking to return, as a team, this year to the NCAA Championships.
They get a chance to make a statement early as to why they should be there in late April.
"We finished strong last year and we are looking to start off where we left off and improve on last season," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said.
No. 19 Penn State will travel to Florida Jan. 7 to take on several top teams in the Super Six Challenge, a meet where the Lions finished fifth last year. The five other teams competing are ranked in the top 20 of the GymInfo preseason Coaches Poll. Three of those teams -- No. 2 Georgia, No. 4 Alabama and No. 6 Florida -- are all national title contenders. Also competing is No. 13 Arizona and No. 17 Iowa.
"The nice thing about gymnastics is that who the other teams are has no bearing on what we do," Shephard said. "We prepare to do the best gymnastics that we can do."
Shephard, who is in his 13th season as the Lions' head coach, returns one All-American (Clark) and loses just one member, co-captain Kelly Streicher, of his 11-6-2 2004 squad. Senior Kate Stopper and junior Meredith Hoover lead the team as co-captains this year.
"We expect everyone to lead in regards to work ethic and attitude, and to get everyone on the same page," Shephard said.
The Lions also welcome three new additions to the team for the 2005 season: Lindsay Borkan, Aslynn Satterfield and Kristal Uzelac. Borkan and Uzelac are national champions from the Level-10 group. From the Big Ten, the Lions will face aforementioned Iowa, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio State. Michigan is ranked No. 7 in the preseason poll and looks to be the strong favorite. The highlight of the home schedule could be the last two weekends in February.
"I think the team is going to have a breakout season." Shephard said. "Our goals are focused on qualifying to nationals as a team."
