It was a characteristic ending to an uncharacteristic season.

A story told many times before, the No. 16 Penn State women's gymnastics team once again could not get a strong start at the NCAA Regional Championships on Friday night, placing third with a score of 194.9.

Consequently, the Nittany Lions did not get one of the top-two spots and will not be moving on to the NCAA Championships in two weeks. No. 6 Oklahoma and No. 7 LSU took home the top-two places and will advance.

"The whole team was really disappointed with our performance," Penn State women's gymnastics coach Steve Shephard said. "[It was] particularly disappointing for the seniors to end this way."

One of the seniors did end in a good way, however, and was the lone bright spot in the Lions' dismal performance. Senior Jennifer Orlando, who has been the go-to gymnast this season, scored a 39.1 in the all-around and will represent the team at the NCAA Championships.

"Jen Orlando had a good meet. I'm very proud of her. She really did a great job this year," Shephard said. "She stepped it up [this year] and did the best gymnastics that she had done in her whole career."

The team started the meet with a bye in the first round and then performed on floor. Junior Corissa Pirkl tied her season-high with a score of 9.825. Senior Lisa Clark, who is normally a solid performer on floor, posted a 9.275 and the team finished the round with a score of 48.95.

Vault was very uncharacteristic for the Lions as the highest score was Orlando's 9.8. Senior Michelle Ilg, who had a great season on the vault, only scored a 9.525 on Friday.

The uneven bars and the balance beam were yet again problems for Penn State. On bars, two people had mistakes on their dismounts. Senior Meredith Hoover, however, who performed on everything but floor because of her ankle injury, scored the highest on bars with a 9.775.

"We are all pretty upset. It was kind of a downer for the weekend," Orlando said. "We had a couple of uncharacteristic falls and that hurt us a little bit and slowed down the momentum of the meet."

The seniors, however, are hurting the most since they did not want to end the season and their four years in this way. After having a strong season last year with a trip to the NCAA Championships and the Super Six, it is disappointing to conclude the season with a bleak performance.

"This is not the way we wanted all four years to end," Orlando said. "We are just trying to move on from here and just leave our legacy to pass on."

The team has gone through a lot this season. Injuries have plagued the depth of the team, but it still kept going and pulled out some great performances. This meet was another low point for the 2006 season, however, and a hard way to end the season. Now the team will have a chance to reflect on the season before it's time to get back into the gym.