Click here for women's gymnastics at Ohio State meet notes (in PDF format).
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa., Feb. 19, 2004 -- The 22nd-ranked Penn State women's gymnastics team takes to the road to face Ohio State on Saturday, Feb. 21 at 7:00 p.m. in Columbus, Ohio. The Nittany Lions are coming off a narrow defeat of 24th-ranked Minnesota last weekend and look to improve to 2-0 in the Big Ten conference.
Penn State leads the Buckeyes, 30-15, in a series that dates back to 1965. The last meeting was at the 2003 Big Ten Championships hosted by the University of Illinois, where the Nittany Lions defeated Ohio State, 196.650 to 194.475 on March 29. The last regular-season meeting was on Feb. 23, 2003, at the Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, where the Nittany Lions defeated Ohio State, 195.450 to 192.400.
Last weekend, in Penn State¡¯s closest meet of the season, the Nittany Lions edged out Minnesota by a trim 195.100 to 194.075 score. Penn State trailed the Gophers for the entire meet until the last rotation where the Lions connected on five of six floor performances to score a season-high 49.400 to take the team crown. Penn State also posted team scores of 48.900 on the vault, 48.325 on the bars and 48.475 on the beam.
Sophomores Meredith Hoover (Dublin, Ohio) and Jen Orlando (Herndon, Va.) placed second and third in the all-around last weekend, scoring a 38.850 and 38.400, respectively. Junior Lisa Clark (Philadelphia, Pa.) and Minnesota¡¯s Carolyn Yernberg both scored a 9.850 on the vault to take first place while Hoover claimed top honors on the bars with a 9.850. Minnesota¡¯s Johnson and Mary Skokut along with freshman Gena Shingle (Langhorne, Pa.) all scored a 9.825 on the beam to place first with Hoover and junior Kate Stopper (Reinholds, Pa.) tying for the top spot on the floor as each recorded a 9.925, also a career-high for Hoover.
Penn State¡¯s floor score of 49.400 that it posted against Minnesota is the highest floor score by the squad since it recorded the school-record 49.725 on Feb. 23, 2001 against Massachusetts.
The Nittany Lions remain on the road next weekend, traveling to intra-state rival Pittsburgh on Saturday, Feb. 28.
