UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.; April 11, 2007 ¨C The 11th-ranked Penn State womenĄŻs gymnastics team heads to Denver for the NCAA Regional Championships on Saturday, April 14 at 6:00 p.m. MT (8:00 p.m. ET). The Nittany Lions, who are making their 33rd appearance in the Regional Championships, will be vying for a spot in the NCAA National Championships, hosted by the University of Utah on April 26-28.
The six teams making up the NCAA North Central Regional field in addition to Penn State include No. 2 Georgia, No. 14 Denver, No. 23 Brigham Young, No. 25 Minnesota and Utah State.
The top two teams and the top two all-around competitors not on an advancing team from each of the six Regionals will receive an automatic berth to the national championships. In addition, individual event winners will also advance if they are not a part of an advancing team or one of the all-around qualifiers.
The Nittany Lions will start the NCAA Regional competition on vault in the first rotation and following a bye, will proceed to bars in the third rotation and beam in the fourth rotation. After another bye in the fifth rotation, Penn State will finish out the meet on floor.
Penn State narrowly missed its first Big Ten title last weekend, placing second with a 196.475, just .100 behind Michigan (196.575), who captured their 15th conference title with the win. Freshman Brandi Personett (Katy, Texas) was named the Big Ten Freshman of the Year and also took home the individual all-around and vault titles. Her career-high 39.425 in the all-around made her Penn StateĄŻs first Big Ten all-around champion since Katie Rowland claimed the title in 2003. On vault, Personett scored a career-best 9.950, the LionsĄŻ highest vault score this season and the best score in the event since Jennifer Orlando scored a 9.950 at Ohio State on Feb. 25, 2006.
In addition, Personett was named a First Team All-Big Ten selection as sophomore Katie Perret (Colorado Springs, Colo.) and senior Stephanie Sullivan (Gaithersburg, Md.) were tabbed as Second Team All-Big Ten honorees. It was the first conference post-season accolade for all three gymnasts.
For more information on the Penn State womenĄŻs gymnastics team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.
North Central Region ¨C in Denver, Colorado (University of Denver, host)
Teams 1. Georgia 2. Penn State 3. Denver 4. Brigham Young 5. Minnesota 6. Utah State
