Last week, the Penn State women's gymnastics team found a way to kill two birds with one stone.

In order to stay in meet mode during an off week and raise money for the Interfraternity Council/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, the Nittany Lions had a small competition during practice on Thursday. If a team member stuck her routine on the balance beam, one dollar was donated to the Thon fund. At the end of practice, the team had stuck a total of 166 routines and has donated $166 to Thon.

Perfecting routines and staying healthy have been two problems the Lions have had to face this year. However, it seems that this time off has given the team a chance to recuperate and it looks to come out swinging in the next meet.

"We had a couple people with some pretty bad heel bruises, and I think the time off had helped them get healed up," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said.

Senior Meredith Hoover was one of the Lions that was dealing with a heel bruise. The two-week hiatus, however, has given her the chance to heal and concentrate on her consistency.

"I've had time to recover a little bit from my ankle being hurt, and we've done a lot to emphasize consistency and execution," she said.

Major injuries have hampered the team's success and consistency. Even before the season began, the Lions were down two key individuals. Juniors Amie Olaes and Genavieve Shingle have been out for the season with a leg injury and a shoulder dislocation, respectively. Last year, Olaes was a strong contributor on vault, and Shingle had not missed a routine on beam during her first two years.

In the first four meets, the team has done its best to combat these injuries. However, it wasn't until the last meet that it finally showed some promise on vault and floor.

Seniors Jennifer Orlando and Clark were strong on vault, posting a 9.925. On floor, Orlando and Clark scored a 9.85 and a 9.75, respectively. They had not been this consistent since the first meet where they both scored a 9.85 on vault and floor.

"We really want to be that consistent team that hits exactly how we practice. We haven't put it all together yet. In the next four meets, we need to hit so that we can be a top team," Hoover said.

The Lions also found another way to stay focused on being a top team during their bye week.

On Saturday, they had an intrasquad meet and competed against themselves.

Although the pressure of a regular meet was not there, the coaches took the places of judges by scoring and critiquing the team.

"I think the intrasquad was good to keep us in meet mode. We did the same thing all week and then we had the intrasquad on Saturday so it was just like a meet. The coaches said that they weren't generous with scores so we saw where we need to work," junior Corissa Pirkl said.

Looking ahead to the second half of the season, the Lions are confident that injuries and inconsistency will no longer be a problem.

By sticking 166 routines on beam last Thursday, the team is finally looking stronger on a weak event.

The time off has also helped heal the team's aches. Sophomore Lindsay Borkan, who competed in three events in the last meet, is finally looking healthy and healed from her torn Achilles tendon. Everything is looking up, which is the one place that the team wishes to go.

"From here, we need to go up. We scored better last weekend, but we need to pick it up on vault, bars, beam and floor. We can't go up and down. We need to stay consistent," Pirkl said.