Don't mistake one of the women gymnasts for Superman, even if it would be tough to distinguish as she flies through the air on the uneven bars.

The uneven bars are a place where the Penn State women are looking to improve consistency in meets, and if they can learn one thing, it is that consistency is crucial.

It is achieved in practice, but not always transferred over to a meet performance.

Practice is when each individual is evaluated and during most of the practices the bar routines are dead on.

"It is disappointing if we don't hit those routines during the meet," Penn State coach Steve Shephard said.

If there is a falter on the landing, a tenth of a point will be deducted from the final routine.

Last weekend during a quad meet against New Hampshire, Cornell and Missouri, Penn State saw each gymnast lose a tenth of a point from her score for a not-so-perfect landing. And that's something that's not usually a problem for this team.

It can often mean the difference between winning and losing a meet. Junior Michelle Ilg said dismounting is probably the hardest part of the bar routine.

"If I focus too much on sticking the landing then sometimes I go too hard or let go too early," she said.

Handstands are also a big part of the routine. Another tenth is deducted if they aren't completely vertical. To combat this, Shephard makes each gymnast hit her handstands on the bars before she can continue with the rest of the routine.

During the routine, the gymnasts are only allowed to stand on the low bar once, so many of them use their mounts to bypass the low bar and go directly to the high bar. And they have to change between the bars twice during the routine.

They have to have one flight element of at least a "C" level. Amplitude and lots of air are vital for these elements.

Senior Cecile Allen competes solely on bars and has done so since she came to Penn State in the two years ago. The coaches told her that it was were she could help the team most.

That suited her just fine, and she said that it takes a lot of upper body strength and endurance to do bars. She said she was never really powerful in her legs. There is no rest in bars like there can be in some of the other events. Points can be taken off if the gymnast is not in constant motion.

Penn State currently ranks 14th in the country in the bars, with an average score of 48.505.

Freshman Kristal Uzelac is ranked 16th individually with an average of 9.837 and a high of 9.925.

Even though the moves and air may make them look like Supermen, they aren't born with the ability to fly.

They have to work hard to complete those super feats.