Women's gymnastics selected to NCAA Regional Championships

Photo: GoPSUsports.com

University Park, Pa. — The 12th-ranked Penn State women's gymnastics team has been selected as one of six teams to compete in the NCAA Southeast Regional Championships, scheduled for Saturday, April 4 in Raleigh, N.C. The meet will be held at NC State's Reynolds Coliseum and will also feature No. 1 Georgia, No. 13 Nebraska, No. 21 West Virginia, No. 29 NC State and No. 30 North Carolina, in addition to the Nittany Lions, who are making their 35th appearance in the NCAA Regional Championships.

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 University of the Nebraska and the Bob Devaney Sports Center will host the 2009 NCAA National Championships on April 16-18.

Penn State is one of seven teams from the Big Ten who will be competing for an NCAA National Championship berth. Big Ten Champion Michigan will compete at Arkansas, Big Ten runner-up Illinois will compete at Washington, Minnesota and Iowa will compete at Iowa and Ohio State and Michigan State will compete at Ohio State.

Last weekend at the Big Ten Championships, junior Brandi Personett (Katy, Texas) was named the Big Ten Gymnast of the Year and picked up her third straight First Team All-Big Ten recognition. A NACGC/W First Team All-American on beam a year ago, Personett also successfully defended her Big Ten floor exercise title for the second straight year with a career-high-tying 9.950, and finished second in the all-around. Freshman Whitney Bencsko (Pompton Plains, N.J.), a Second Team All-Big Ten pick, finished second on vault with a 9.900, while head coach Steve Shephard picked up his third career Big Ten Coach of the Year honors, sharing the accolade with Illinois' Bob Starkell