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
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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
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~ 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
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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.
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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