I Friday, Nov. 12, 2010 Women’s gymnastics team lands By Matt Howland FOR THE COLLEGIAN The Penn State women’s gym nastics team finalized its recruit ing class on Wednesday when three high school gymnasts signed National Letters of Intent to attend Penn State next sea- —=— son WOMEN’S Alexis Carroll, Krystal Welsh GYMNAS T'CS and Alexandra Witt all signed with the Nittany Lions, the athletic department announced Wednesday. The three were actually recruit ed by previous head coach Steve Shephard, who resigned last sea son after 18 years heading the team. Despite not recruiting them for Penn State, Jeff Thompson, the team’s new coach, had all three on Freshman hold high By Matt Howland FOR THE COLLEGIAN The freshmen on the Penn State women's gymnastics team have some big shoes to fill. The team graduated five sen iors, who performed 48.7 percent of the competitive routines last year, including five-time All- American Brandi Personett. who finished second nationally on floor exercise last season. Kassidy Stauder, Stephanie Brock, Cassidy Bogar. Kristin Blades and Lindsay Musgrove are the five freshmen tasked with replacing the graduates. The coaches are hesitant to rely too heavily on freshmen right away, but they might not have a choice. The team doesn't have enough competitive routines from the upperclassmen on vault, floor exercise and balance beam, so freshmen might have to start as Men’s gymnastics team looking to improve in 2011 By Katie Montgomery COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER As Penn State men's gymnas tics coach Randy Jepson watched his team stretch before practice Wednesday 1 ; he couldn’t help but think about the MEN S hurdles his team rvMWfIQT!rQ would have to GYMNASTICS overcome this season. The most difficult hurdle being an inexperienced, young team. After three of the Nittany Lions' best high bar and floor performers PSU-jtISU C £ X (Updo, &p6iCon ZDeita I^"^* Sewing .Lwes I ffimtitiy Spaitam Incoming Blood Drives Sunday, Nov. 14 Pollock Rec. Room 12pm-spm Sponsored h\: Caribbean Student Association & Lambda Pin l.p-ulon Monday, Nov. 15 Hl'B-Alumni Hall 10ani-4pni Donor appreciation rattle fora]] presenting donors! Rattle includes a I I I I' SCKI:I:.\ Tl ! All presenting donors will also receive a Challenge t-shirt, u bile supplies last! This ad is brought to you by: • American Red Cross Mornin Finding Christian Community - Living out our Faith on Campus Sponsored by the Episcopal, Lutheran, and Presbyterian Campus Ministries his recruitment list when he was head coach at Auburn last year. He recruited Carroll, but she chose Penn State over Auburn. Welsh chose Penn State so early that Thompson didn’t get the chance to talk to her. Shephard had offered scholarships to Carroll and Welch, and Thompson chose to offer his remaining schol arship to Witt, who had originally committed to Auburn. The team is losing only two sen iors to graduation this year. Danielle Hover and Heather McElwee, so the new recruits will provide an extra boost to an already young team. Hover and McElwee have six routines in training between them, three of which are proven to be competition-level, while the three new gymnasts will bring in 12 events in training. As a result. Thompson expects the team to be early as the first meet. Jan. 7 at Alabama, associate head coach Rachelle Thompson said. "I’d like to not have to put them out right in the beginning so they can see what a couple of college meets are like." Rachelle : Thompson said. j f lk "But I doubt that's i j 1 gonna happen, j * - * were probably j gonna have to ; throw a couple of ; j them in each line- up to start the sea Thompson son off. The five gymnasts are experi encing some learning pains. They have to make the transition from competing in club gymnastics in high school, with coaches who tend not to push gymnasts to the limit, to the highly competitive mentality of collegiate gymnas tics, where the job of the coach is graduated last season. Jepson is looking to fill their spots with younger athletes. The team is comprised ot most ly underclassmen, with captain Matt Albrecht leading the team as its only senior. "We've got some guys that had competed last year for us a little bit," Jepson said. “But we didn't compete that well as a team and I'm looking to see that they've improved a little bit. "But also, I want to sec where our freshmen are at and get a sense for them. Some of the rou tines we’re doing are a little more Prayer ip Service e welcome! iunday mornings iwer Chapel at la Spiritual Center ~ Singing ~ Reflection even stronger next year. Carroll, from Rockville, Md., is a strong all-around gymnast, and is the reigning USA Gymnastics Level 10 National Champion on vault. She also finished second in the all-around competition in the Region 7 Championships. Her club gymnastics coach, Kelli Hill, highlighted Carroll’s power as a strength for the gym nast, as well as her vault and tum bling. Hill said she hoped Carroll would be as successfiil in colle giate gymnastics as she was in club, and expected her success and development to continue. “I think she'll be an asset to Penn State, as well as Penn State will be an asset to her,” Hill said. Welsh is also a successful all around gymnast, and was highly recruited by many top schools, including Nebraska and Utah, before settling on Penn State, expectations for debut season on the line if the team doesn't suc ceed. The freshmen also have to adjust to the team mentality of NCAA competition. "It s more of a team sport now, because club's more individual," Blades said. “So it's not just about you. it's about the whole team." The stakes can be much higher in college, and with Thompson expecting 14.000 people to be at the Alabama meet, the freshmen will likely need some time to adjust to the pressure of an inter collegiate meet. “Our freshmen are coming along, but they're not gonna replace five seniors, not right off the bat." head coach Jeff Thompson said. "So we know that there's a learning curve for them." Despite their inexperience, it is important that the freshmen con tribute this year. The head coach said if the freshmen aren't in the than some of the guys can handle right now' and I think part of what they're going to see is that maybe they're not quite ready for that but they're on their way." Before the beginning of presea son, the team decided on a set of goals they hope to accomplish by the end of the season. Number one on that list is to be at the top of the Big Ten. "Obviously, that's where our goal is to be every year,” Albrecht said. “But this year we have a strong focus toward it. We had a huge group that learned a lot last year in terms of competing and we SPORTS Ice Cream Experience! 321 E. Beaver Ave, State College 814-272-6585 122 Park Hills Plaza, Altoona 814-942-4011 ’6 09-9 ') , O Kahata franchising LL C COLD STONE CREAMERY i$ a registered trademark of Kahaia Franchising IIC jnd.o r its licensors three recruits according to her coach, Bob Ouelette. Welsh finished second on floor exercise in the 2010 Region 7 Championships, and finished eighth in the all-around competi tion. She also finished sixth on the uneven bars at the 2010 Junior Olympic National Championships. “She’s a phenomenal gymnast, an incredible gymnast, easy to work with, incredibly dedicated,” Ouelette said. Ouelette said Welsh doesn’t have any weak events, and expects her to utilize that strength to succeed at the college level. “I think she’s gonna walk into college and be one of the top recruits for the 2011-2012 season,” Ouelette said. Welsh, according to her dad, verbally committed to Penn State in the Beaver Stadium tunnel, before Shephard brought her onto lineup, the team will be in trouble. The freshmen acknowledge the weight on their shoulders, but remain confident. “There's pressure on the fresh men, cause we're the majority,” Stauder said. “But the coaches and the upperclassmen are help ing us stay calm about the pres sure." In practice the team performs pressure sets, with the stakes on either hitting their routine or the entire team doing more practice sets. This helps to acclimate the gymnasts to a situation where the entire team is counting on them to hit a routine The freshmen are doing their best to come in and push for start ing spots. Stauder has stood out, and is likely to start on vault, bal ance beam, floor exercise and pos sibly uneven bars. Her expecta tions are high, and she said she wants to be the Big Ten balance just want to take what we learned last year and develop it into a strong team this year.” Last season the team had trou ble with consistency throughout their meets. After one gymnast struggled in an event, the rest of the team would crumble. Albrecht said. Looking forward to this season, the Nittany Lions hope to reverse the snowball effect that has caused problems in the past by focusing on individual events and learning to trust each other, hope fully leading to consistency in each routine. COLDSTONE it ( CREAMERY The Daily Collegian “I think [Carroll] will be an asset.” Carroll’s club gymnastics coach the field during a football game. Witt finished fourth on both uneven bars and floor at the 2010 Region 8 Championships, and fifth in the all-around. She also finished fourth on uneven bars and eighth in the all-around at the 2010 Junior Olympic National Championships. She was recruited by schools in the SEC, Big Ten, and Pac-10, and was initially committed to Auburn, but when Thompson moved to Penn State, she decided to follow. Thompson is excited by the prospects of the new recruits. “All three of them have the abil ity to be all-arounders right off the bat," Thompson said. beam champion. The other freshmen are also looking to start with Musgrove and Brock also hoping to compete in all four events, and Bogar in three. Blades is a lock to start on vault, and possibly floor as well. Jeff Thompson said. The upperclassmen have high expectations for the freshmen this year, and for the team as a whole. “I think the five freshmen that are replacing our seniors are all stepping up," junior Daryl Konsevick said. “I think everybody’s looking really strong." Come Jan. 7 and the Alabama meet, the newcomers are going to have to be ready, with such an important load being placed on their shoulders. “Those five freshmen are gonna have to have an impact and replace the five seniors we lost." Rachelle Thompson said. Both Albrecht and Jepson agree that confidence is the most important factor the Nittany Lions will have to improve on before the season begins at home against Army on Jan. 8. "This year we want to be really confident within ourselves and focus on going out and doing our job,” Albrecht said. “[Also] having trust that we’ll do our routines when it comes down to it and trust that our teammates will be able to be consistent enough to hit their routines.” To e-mail reporter: kems23B@psu.edu Kelli Hill
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