Auburn, Ala., April 21, 2005 ¨C The Penn State women¡¯s gymnastics team scored a 194.975 to finish fifth in the first preliminary session of the NCAA Championships in Auburn, Ala. Utah (196.850), Michigan (196.575) and Nebraska (195.875) all advanced to the Super Six on Friday, April 22 as LSU finished fourth (195.800) and Oklahoma placed sixth (194.425).

¡°I¡¯m very proud of our team,¡± said head coach Steve Shephard. ¡°They represented Penn State very well and I hope they made our alumni and fans proud. I¡¯m disappointed on how we performed on beam but the NCAA Championships is a great equalizing event. After beam we turned it around. The whole floor team did great, I¡¯m very proud of our vault team and we hit 6-for-6 on bars.

¡°This was a great learning experience for our team and we plan to be back next year,¡± Shephard continued. ¡°We¡¯re looking forward to working hard in the off-season and continuing to move our program forward.¡±

Junior Lisa Clark (Philadelphia, Pa.) earned second team All-America status with her seventh-place 9.875 score on floor. The Nittany Lions did not advance any individual competitors to Saturday night¡¯s individual event finals.

As a team, the Nittany Lions recorded scores of 48.850 on vault, 48.925 on bars, 48.125 on beam and 49.075 on floor.

Penn State opened up the first NCAA Championships preliminary session on the beam as sophomore Corissa Pirkl (West Islip, N.Y.) and junior Lisa Clark (Philadelphia, Pa.) scored a team-high and 16th-place 9.750 and sophomore Gena Shingle (Langhorne, Pa.) notched a 9.700. Junior Meredith Hoover (Dublin, Ohio) posted a 9.650 while freshman Kristal Uzelac (Johnstown, Pa.) suffered a fall and recorded a 9.275 and senior Kate Stopper (Reinholds, Pa.) tallied a 9.150.

Following a bye, the Nittany Lions moved to the floor where Clark recorded a team-high and seventh-place 9.875. Hoover and Uzelac both posted scores of 9.825 while Pirkl and junior Jen Orlando (Dublin, Ohio) each tallied a 9.775 and Stopper notched a 9.750.

On vault in the fourth rotation, sophomore Amie Olaes (Inverness, Ill.) led the squad with an 11th-place 9.825, just shy of her career high of 9.850. Uzelac and Stopper followed with a 9.800 each as Orlando recorded a 9.725, Hoover posted a 9.700 and Clark tallied a 9.675.

After a bye in the fifth rotation, the Nittany Lions ended the afternoon on bars. Pirkl, Clark and Uzelac all tied for 17th with a 9.800 as senior Cecile Allen (State College, Pa.) posted a 9.775. Hoover and junior Michelle Ilg (Colonia, N.J.) each scored a 9.750.

Clark tied for 11th in the all-around with a 39.100 to lead the Lions while Hoover placed 14th with a 38.925 and Uzelac scored a 38.700 for 19th.

For more information on the Penn State women¡¯s gymnastics team, please visit www.GoPSUsports.com.

Penn State scores, in competition order:

Rotation 1: Beam ¨C 48.125
Corissa Pirkl ¨C 9.750
Lisa Clark ¨C 9.750
Gena Shingle ¨C 9.700
Kate Stopper ¨C 9.150
Meredith Hoover ¨C 9.650
Kristal Uzelac ¨C 9.275

Rotation 2: Bye

Rotation 3: Floor - 49.075
Corissa Pirkl - 9.775
Meredith Hoover - 9.825
Jen Orlando - 9.775
Kristal Uzelac - 9.825
Lisa Clark - 9.875
Kate Stopper - 9.750

Rotation 4: Vault - 48.850
Meredith Hoover - 9.700
Jen Orlando - 9.725
Kristal Uzelac - 9.800
Amie Olaes - 9.825
Kate Stopper - 9.800
Lisa Clark - 9.675

Rotation 5: Bye

Rotation 6: Bars - 48.925
Meredith Hoover - 9.750
Corissa Pirkl - 9.800
Lisa Clark - 9.800
Michelle Ilg - 9.750
Cecile Allen - 9.775
Kristal Uzelac - 9.800

Final team score: 194.975

Final Team Standings:
1 Utah - 196.850
2 Michigan - 196.575
3 Nebraska - 195.875
4 LSU - 195.800
5 Penn State - 194.975
6 Oklahoma - 194.425