UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Freshman Jessie Bastardi and senior Sabrina Garcia will represent the Penn State women's gymnastics team at the NCAA Championships on Friday, April 19 in Fort Worth, Texas. The pair earned bids after their performances at the Ann Arbor NCAA Regional on Friday. Both qualified as the highest event scorer in the regional on a team that did not advance to the NCAA Championships.
Bastardi will be competing on balance beam after earning a 9.900 on Friday. The State College native tied for the top score in the Session I meet and tied for third in the regional. With the help of tiebreakers, Bastardi advanced to Fort Worth. She tied Meredith Hoover's score in 2003 for Penn State's top beam score in a regional.
Garcia tied for the top bars score, a 9.900, in the Session I meet and finished in a tie for fourth in the regional. She also benefited from a tiebreaker to move on to the NCAA Championships. Garcia matched her 2017 regional performance for Penn State's top bars score in a regional.
Bastardi has qualified for the first NCAA Championships in her career after posting a 9.840 National Qualifying Score (NQS) heading into regional weekend. She has competed in all 13 meets this season on beam, including a career-best 9.925 at Rutgers on February 9. Bastardi now has three beam scores of 9.900 or better this season and seven scores of 9.800 or better.
Garcia is set to compete in her second NCAA Championships after qualifying in all-around as a sophomore in 2017. She competed in all 13 meets on bars, entering regional weekend with a 9.875 NQS. Garcia has posted five scores of 9.900 or better on bars this year, including a career-high 9.950 against Ohio State. The second-team All-Big Ten selection won two bars event titles and recorded a 9.800 or better in every meet this season.
The Nittany Lions, led by Head Coach Sarah Brown, placed third in Session I of the Ann Arbor Regional, tallying a 195.750. Penn State earned a 10-9 dual meet record and ranked 23rd in the RoadToNationals standings entering the regional.