By Laura Finley, GoPSUsports.com Student Staff Writer
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - One in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer. Women's gymnastics associate head coach Rachelle Thompson knows this. It is why she began the Flip for the Cure program last year and brought it back Saturday night during Penn State's first home meet of the season.

"If every year we do this and make seven or eight people aware of breast cancer then that's great," said Coach Thompson. "We've got a group of girls who could develop breast cancer and by me just making this part of our community service and putting our all into raising awareness, I'm helping my girls take care of themselves in the future."

Thompson started Flip for the Cure in conjunction with the Lady Lion Pink Zone to support breast cancer awareness. With some success, the event returned for another year and fans gathered in Rec Hall wearing pink shirts while gymnasts from each school sported their own pink leotards.

"It's a great cause having the pink zone and wearing our pink leos," said junior Sharaya Musser. "It's all for the cause."

With fans watching in a sea of pink, Penn State opened the night on vault, as Alabama, Michigan State, and Cornell took their respective spots to compete in each of the other events. The Nittany Lions had a rough start, struggling to pull in strong scores and earning 48.775 during the rotation. Musser led the Nittany Lions with a score of 9.875, putting her in third place overall on vault.

"We did not do what we should have done on vault," said Coach Thompson. "When the meet started our team was kind of tight with it being the first home meet and wanting to do great for our fans. We were a little tight. But after we settled down and relaxed we did an awesome job."

Following vault, Penn State found its rhythm on uneven bars, scoring a 48.975, which allowed the team to hold on to its lead. Musser continued to put in a strong showing, taking first overall on bars with a 9.9.

Carrying this momentum, Penn State moved on to beam and beat defending national champion Alabama with a 49.250. This was their strongest showing of the night with five gymnasts scoring a 9.8 or better. Musser and senior co-captain Whitney Bencsko placed first with a 9.9.

Even with the strong scores on beam, however, Penn State could not hang on to the lead as Alabama took over the top spot by one-tenth of a point. The Nittany Lions kept their heads high going into their final rotation on floor, concentrating on their routines as fans waited in anticipation of the final outcome.

Bencsko scored a career-high of 9.9 on her floor routine, but it was not enough to solidify Penn State's score in the final rotation as it came down to a mere .075 that separated the Nittany Lions (196.100) from Alabama (196.175), who walked away with the title. Michigan State (192.875) placed third, while Cornell (188.850) finished fourth.

"We have nothing to be disappointed with," said Bencsko. "We went out there and we fought. You fall a little short sometimes, but it makes us work that much harder. We went out there tonight and we had fun and gave the crowd a show."

Even with a second place finish, Penn State was still victorious as Musser took home her third all-around title of the season, while Bencsko and junior Madison Merriam tied for third.

Coach Thompson was confident Saturday night's outcome will make her team stronger in the long run as she reiterated their persistence and will to win.

"We're going to get better," said Coach Thompson. "This will make the team go 'Okay, we're good.' We're going to get back to practice and fix the little things and make sure that we never do this again."

Musser agreed with her coach, saying that Penn State will continue to fight and come back strong in next week's meet. She also acknowledged that her team is not the only one fighting back as she reflected on her own experiences over this past week after visiting Mount Nittany Medical Center and talking with breast cancer survivors.

"I've never really talked to anybody about having to deal with breast cancer," said Musser. "Just hearing some of their stories put things in perspective. This is just gymnastics and there's more to life. We all just need to take a step back and look at the bigger picture and the future."