From Lindsay Borkan
April 3, 2006

The Big Ten Championship competition was held at Michigan State University on March 25. Out of the seven schools that were there, we placed 3rd overall. It wasn't what our team wanted, but we were happy with how we finished up the meet.

Our first event was beam. We went into this event with confidence because it is one of our strongest, but we just weren't on our game. We had two falls and some major wobbles in the other routines. I think this was one of the worst beam rotations we've had all season. After this rotation I think we were in last place. We then went back to our locker room before floor and got refocused and energized!

Although after beam we took ourselves out of the championship title, we didn't tell ourselves that. We came back on the next three events and totally rocked! The girls had so much fun showing off their amazing tumbling and awesome dance moves on floor. We had some huge scores! Then we went to vault and really kept our energy going. Ris started us off with a HUGE yerchanko layout 1/2 and stuck it! She went 9.8! Her highest score of the season!

At this point before bars, we are climbing our way back up to the top. The scores we were posting were bringing us really close to catching Minnesota and Michigan State. We had some of our best routines on bars this meet! We had some high 9.8s and a 9.9 by Katie. Katie is our BIG TEN Bar Champion!! Way to go KP!

Our scores from floor, vault, and bars brought us to third place; only missing first by .175. The way we competed after beam shows that we are such a strong team and that nothing can get in our way! We can handle any kind of pressure that is thrown our way! We are looking forward to competing at the NCAA Regionals at LSU this weekend to qualify for NCAAs!

Go State!

Love,
Lindsay

From Stephanie Sullivan
Feb. 26, 2006

This past weekend was one of the best for our team. We competed away at Ohio State. We finished the meet way ahead of Ohio State and with our season high, 196.625. We had strong performances on every event. We started the meet on bars with solid performances by everyone in the line up! Katie Perret took first place in the meet on bars with her career high of 9.9. We got our season high bar score of 49.125, giving us a huge confidence boost going into vault. Our team vault score, a 49.250 gave us a huge lead. Jen Orlando placed first on vault with a 9.95, her career best. Aslynn Satterfield led our team on floor with a 9.9, her career high and first in the meet. Our team floor score was a 49.025. Beam was an exciting event this weekend. Meredith Hoover took first in the meet with a 9.975, her career high. Other strong performances put our final beam score at a 49.225, our season high.

The team is very excited about our team score this weekend, and we hope to keep up the good work going into New Hampshire next week! Thanks for reading, and stay tuned! :)

For the Glory,
Steph Sullivan

From Gena Shingle
Feb. 11, 2006

Hey! So last night was our senior meet and the only word that describes it is AMAZING. Not only was the meet amazing, but the graduating seniors, Jennifer Orlando, Lisa Clark, Meredith Hoover, Michelle Ilg and Erin Clayton, are unbelievable. They have all had such an impact on Penn State and on each and every one of us. We are going to have some big shoes to fill when they are gone!

We started the evening off by decorating the locker room and singing them songs that we wrote. It was really sad but we turned that into a motivation to have our last home meet be the best of the season up until this point. And that is what we did!

There are no words to describe vault; one right after the other we just kept getting better! We had our season high with a 49.425. Jen and Lisa both stuck their fulls, winning the meet with a 9.925.

Michelle won bars after doing an awesome routine! Corissa also did one of the best routines I've ever seen her do placing second. We had a few mistakes and tallied a 48.675.

Corissa started the team off on beam with a usual solid routine! Lindsay Borkan was back in the line-up and hit her routine! Mer anchored the beam squad with a great routine tying Corissa with a 9.825. Everyone hit and we scored a 48.6.

Floor was so fun! Everyone loves competing and you can tell with the big smiles that are beaming throughout their routines. Mer tied for first with a 9.9. Lisa competed her pike full-in and it was huge.

I am so proud of all these girls. They have worked so hard in and out of the gym. This is going to be an amazing season and I know that we all dedicate it to our seniors. We love you!

Injury Report: Amie tore her ACL a few weeks ago and has her surgery on Tuesday so we all wish her the best and can't wait to have her back! I finally got my sling off and hope to be back in 2-3 months after having shoulder surgery.

Thanks for reading!
With Penn State Pride
Genavieve "G"

From Ashley Mehrer
Jan. 25, 2006

And we're off! Our season is well under way. We have had two meets at home to get us off to a strong start. As of this week, we are ranked 7th in the country! Our home of Rec Hall received a makeover during our off season. The bleachers were revamped and jumbotrons replaced the old slide boards. The atmosphere was still very homey but the newness was a welcomed change. We opened our season against Alabama and Arizona, two very respectable teams, and it was good to get a taste of a high-pressure situation early in the season. Katie P got her first taste of collegiate competition and many of the old familiar faces returned to our lineups. We are deep as a team this year and it is proving to work in our benefit. Our second meet was a quad against Cornell, West Virginia, and Michigan. We got a preview of our first Big Ten opponent and came close to a victory, a margin we can surely make up over the course of the season. It is an exciting time to see how far we have come since August and to see all of our hard work pay off, in addition to seeing our potential for the rest of the season.

Besides getting the season off to a start, classes are already two weeks underway. Last semester, our team average GPA was Dean's List eligible, with 11 girls well over 3.5. We have the brains and the brawn! We hope to continue academic success this semester, although it is always harder during season when we are on the road so much.

This weekend we head out on the road to Minnesota to take on another Big Ten foe, the Golden Gophers, plus as a bonus for the shopaholics on our team, like me, it happens to be in the same area as the Mall of America! This weekend will be the first of many road trips this season. It's time to see what we are really made of.

With Penn State Pride,
Ashley

From Amie Olaes
Jan. 9, 2006

This past week over winter break we had our yearly team sleepover at Woodward Gymnastics Camp and we also had another intersquad meet. During our stay at Woodward we cooked dinner, played some games to get to know each other a little better and watched the highlight tape from last year to get psyched for season. This was a great team bonding experience and I think our team is really excited to kick off the season.

Thursday we had our intersquad meet and it went really well. We started off on vault and had the depth of nine people competing 10.0 start value vaults. Lisa and Jen led the team with two huge yurchenko full twists and Ashley competed a fantastic handspring front-pike with a twist.

Meredith started off the team on bars and did an amazing routine, especially for competing without a warm-up and only doing a touch. We had a couple little mistakes, but all of which are fixable. Katie had a solid combination of her invert to the ¡°Perret¡±, I made my reverse hecht, and Corissa did a great double layout dismount and stuck it. Lisa and Michelle also did awesome routines as usual.

Beam is probably our top event. Everyone is looking very consistent and ready for next Saturday in Rec Hall. Lisa scored a 9.9 on beam and looked amazing. Katie began her routine with the ¡°Perrret¡± beam mount and stuck her new dismount which is a gainer full off the side. Meredith did her flip-flop, layout, layout and Jen competed her flip-flop, layout, flip-flop. Ashley¡¯s front tuck mount was flawless and she hit a solid routine. I ended my routine with a double-full and Steph competed her front aerial. We looked great!

We ended on floor and competed three E tumbling passes. Ashley started off the lineup and hit a solid routine. She did a huge double pike to start off and does amazing front tumbling for her other two passes. Aslynn opened with a beautiful full-in and ended with a double tuck. Although Meredith has a solid double layout on the floor, she decided to water down at the inter-squad and only do a double tuck. Her double layout has improved so much and is enormous. She will score very high when she competes it at the meets. Corissa hit a solid routine and ended with a double tuck after opening with a whip to a double pike. Michelle competed a whip, whip, flip-flop double pike. Steph did an amazing job on floor and competed her handspring, front layout, front full. She did such a great job showing off her routing.

Overall this was a great preparation for next Saturday. Our confidence has increased and we are feeling more and more prepared as we wind down until we go up against Alabama and Arizona at 7:00 p.m. at Rec Hall.

With Penn State Pride,
Amie

From Michelle Ilg
Dec. 15, 2005

Sorry it has been so long since the last time anybody wrote a journal entry. Everybody has been really busy with practice and studying for finals. But anyway, last week we had our annual weight lifting competition, the ¡°Iron Lion¡±. The team looked really strong, even stronger than last year and I am pretty sure we are going to win again for the third year in a row. Way to go girls!

As for in the gym, everybody is looking really good as well. Lisa¡¯s vault, yurchenko full, is looking huge as always and figuring out how to stick. She is also looking just as great on the other three events and will be a good leader for the team. Meredith is fighting through some small aches and pains but still looking strong on all four events. Jen¡¯s bars have improved so much since last year. Her Jeagar is a lot bigger and her form has improved as well. She also got a new floor music and her tumbling is just as good as it was last year, with even more control on her landings. Corissa is looking so solid on beam. I hardly ever see her even wobble! Her bars have also gotten better, tighter form and a better double layout. Amie¡¯s hects on bars are HUGE and is doing giant full before her double lay. She is also doing her yurchenko full and working double back dismounts off beam. Steph is looking solid on beam and working a double front dismount off bars. Ash is working hand front pike half on vault, looking solid on beam, and showing off her new floor routine as well. Gena just had shoulder surgery but is looking to recover in 4-6 months. Aslynn is looking strong on floor with a full in first pass and ending with a double back and her yurchenko half on vault is bigger and better than last year. Lindsay is coming back strong from her torn Achilles. She is looking solid on both bars and beam and is vaulting on the soft surface and tumbling her whip double lay into the pit. Katie P is looking awesome on bars and working a full twisting double layout. She is also working front aerial back handspring layout step out on beam. Theresa is working hard as always and working on a jeagar on bars and working on improving her tumbling and hand front pike vault. I, Michelle, am working on yurchenko half on vault and trying to get a double front on floor.

With Penn State Pride,
Michelle

From Lisa Clark
Nov. 17, 2005

I can¡¯t believe it's November already and the season is only 32 practices away. Since our Fall Break in October we have been working hard towards our team goals for this upcoming season. Practices and strength workouts have been challenging but seem to be going well to where everyone is getting more consistent and confident in putting all of their skills into routines and feeling strong.

As we just competed in our annual TURKO-WEENIE intra-squad, it definitely showed that we are coming along well as a team and are getting pumped to kick some butt this year. As a team we looked great on vault with our entire line-up and more vaults starting from a 10.0. The team on bars looks pretty consistent and confident with their routines landing their dismounts on the hard surface. Beam seems to be where we have a lot of depth and consistency and execution will be a big deciding factor on who is in line-up from week to week. The depth that we have on this event is a positive thing to where we can keep pushing each other to get better as the season gets closer. And finally, there is floor where our endurance is where it should be at this time in the season. Most of us were tumbling all of our passes on the floor and without spots which showed our confidence in our ability to do our skills in a routine. Most of us have new floor routines this year, so it should be exciting to go out and show off to the judges and our fans our new routines. The next big thing we look forward to is running the Beaver Stadium stairs on Tuesday, November 22nd before we head home for the Thanksgiving Holidays!

We want thank everyone who came out to watch and support us at our TURKO-WEENIE intra-squad and hope to see you all again January 14th for our first home meet in Rec Hall.

With Penn State Pride,
Lisa

From Jen Orlando
Oct. 31, 2005

Well, it has been quite a while since our last entry and there is a lot to catch up on! The team has been working so hard this preseason, and it is paying off. We are doing a lot of different conditioning this fall, which is tough, but it has been a fun way to try new things as a team. We have been running Shortlidge Rd. (all the way up!) and running East View stairs every Tuesday and on Thursday we have been doing a spinning class. That has been very different, but has been a great way to change things up and learn how to really push ourselves.

We did our team run up Mount Nittany on October 13. It was a little rainy and cold, but we had our new shirts on to keep us warm and we followed the motto of ¡°We don¡¯t stop until we reach the top." It was a great run and we think we did it in a record time of about 18 minutes! That weekend was our fall break and everyone got to relax and spend some time with family and friends.

We came back on Monday motivated and ready to begin training for our upcoming intersquad, Turk-o-Weenie, which is on November 12th. Everyone is looking great! Many of us are already doing full bar and beam routines, tumbling on the floor, and vaults on competition surface. I can¡¯t wait for Turk-o-Weenie because it always reminds me that season is just around the corner!

In these past few weeks we came up with our motto for the season. We all decided that ¡°Together¡± represented a lot of different aspects of how we wanted our team to function. We have committed to working together, helping each other, and achieving our goals together as a team.

With Penn State Pride,
Jen

From Meredith Hoover and Corissa Pirkl
Sept. 26, 2005

Hello Everyone!
Well we're back at school and ready to go! The first few weeks have been exciting and fun-filled, a good indicator for the year. We've been working out, lifting, and running and official practices start Monday the 26th. Everyone looks fabulous, especially our two new freshman who are going to make great contributions to the team. Katie Perret is from Colorado Springs, CO and Theresa Diehl joins us from Delaware. We are excited about them being a part of our PSU family.

Recruiting went really well for us this year! We already have our five committments from amazing and very talented girls. During our last recruiting weekend, we had the honor of being recognized during the PSU vs. Central Michigan football game on the field for winning the highest team GPA award this past year. It was thrilling to be in front of over 100,000 fans who are all Penn State proud!

We're looking forward to this upcoming season and hope to continue sharing it with you! Check us out every week for updates on the team and our activities. Go State!

With Penn State Pride,
Meredith and Corissa
2005-2006 Captains

? Click here to read the 2004-2005 Penn State Women's Gymnastics Team Diary!!