Erin Clayton joined the ranks of Bob Griese, John Madden, Doug Collins and Joe Morgan. At least for one night.

Clayton, a junior, was the color analyst for the women's gymnastics meet against George Washington. She is a team manager/coach for the Nittany Lions, and helped broadcast the meet live on WPSX-TV. It was her first experience in live television and the Human Development and Family Studies major enjoyed it.

"I like this media stuff, but I change my major again -- I might not graduate," she said.

Around 6:45 p.m., Clayton sat down at the broadcast table with Jerry Fisher, and he taught her a few things about the TV sets and different electronics on the table. She hoped that she would be able to go the entire time without losing her voice. At 7:05, the live feed began.

The night began with Fisher welcoming everyone to the Bryce Jordan Center. Clayton had to put her nerves behind her and begin her career as a broadcaster. For her, the presence of the live camera being there was the toughest part of the night. She talked about Penn State's big win against West Virginia and Ball State, and how that experience may play into the meet against the Colonials. Penn State started the night on the vault, but because the women have a warm-up period on the different events, the men's team was shown live. The feed would then be played back and appear to be live to the viewers. Even though it wasn't live to Clayton, she wasn't able to see the performances ahead of time and had to make everything up as she went along.

"It was somewhat easy because I know the routines. I see them every time I am at practice," she said.

The trouble came when George Washington was shown. Clayton didn't know the Colonials' routines or what was coming next. She also didn't know the personal aspects of opposing gymnasts that she could add with the Lions, ones that no one else would know.

Clayton did not have any errors, although she felt like she said "motivational" a lot, but Fisher told her she didn't. The only time she had trouble was when the camera messed up. It switched between Kate Stopper and Kristal Uzelac's beam routines, and caught her off guard. She also got a taste of a journalist's world: she had to be neutral on camera. When Lisa Clark stuck her vault and got very excited herself, Clayton wasn't able to share in Clark's joy, as she normally would in her normal role of manager/coach.

By 9 p.m., the meet was over and the network went back to another live shot to review the meet and wrap up the broadcast. Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard came on to talk about the meet and then Clayton's job was over.

"She did a great job," Fisher said.

"She got more comfortable as the meet went on and ranks up there with all the people I have worked with."

Clayton began her Penn State career as a part of the women's gymnastics team. She had a back injury in high school that had been misdiagnosed and came in her freshman year, when she redshirted. It was eventually discovered that what had started as a stress fracture had become two herniated discs. She had surgery in the summer of 2003 and had to go through rehabilitation for eight months. Clayton came back her sophomore year for some exhibition spots. But it was too much to overcome and in November 2004, Clayton decided to stop competing and moved into her current role of manager/coach.

"I missed doing gymnastics," she said. "Still being involved is almost the next best thing. And the TV was fun too."