Falcons Begin 2017 Season on Saturday at Penn State Quad

Saturday, January 7

University Park, Pa.

4:00 PM

Bowling Green State University

Penn State

Photo by: BGSU Strategic Communications

January 05, 2017 | Gymnastics

By: by Matthew Daley, Athletic Communicationis Assistant

BOWLING GREEN (0-0) at #23 PENN STATE (0-0)
(w/ #36 BRIGHAM YOUNG (0-0) and TEMPLE (0-0)
Sat., Jan. 7, 2017 | 4:00 p.m. ET | University Park, Pa. | Rec Hall (5,812)

Game Notes: BGSU | PSU | BYU | Temple
Live Stats | Live Video
Road To Nationals

PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS FOR THE MAC CHAMPIONSHIP
MARCH 18, 2017 -- STROH CENTER
Adults: $15, 12-and-under: $10, MAC Students: Free (w/ College ID)

TENTATIVE LINEUPS
VAULT -- Lauren De Meno, Jovannah East, Lauren Feely, Victoria Heath, India McPeak, Taylor Worthington (Exhibition: Randi Morris)
BARS -- Lexi Augustine, Lauren De Meno, Lauren Feely, Alex Johnston, Laura Mitchell, Rachel Reis
BEAM -- Jovannah East, Lauren Feely, Victoria Heath, India McPeak, Laura Mitchell, Taylor Worthington (Exhibition: Alex Johnston)
FLOOR -- Lexi Augustine, Rachel Creagh, Victoria Heath, India McPeak, Randi Morris, Kayla Rose

COACH'S THOUGHTS
"We enter this first meet of 2017 at Penn State with great excitement and anticipation. The team has worked hard this fall to come together as a family and refine routines to compete at the highest level. After a great 2016 season, they are determined to build on that success."

"We have dealt with more injuries than last fall and will need time through January to build our lineup to full strength. Vault and beam are particular strengths at the moment. We have plenty of potential on bars and floor, although we may not have some of our top competitors on those events this month. However, our expectation is that our athletes are well prepared, and the routines this weekend will reflect what they are doing in practice. I will focus more on the number of hit routines at this first meet. The team needs to compete aggressively, build on the positives and learn from any issues we may have in this first meet."

"Our returners' experience will lead the way on Saturday. Lauren Feely returns on several events while Victoria Heath continues to shine on vault, beam and floor. Rachel Reis will anchor our bar lineup. Laura Mitchell is training well on bars and beam. Transfer India McPeak will also make large contributions on vault, beam and floor. Of our returning sophomores, Kayla Rose is looking very strong on floor, and Lauren De Meno is ready on vault and bars. Rachel Creagh will get our floor line up started this weekend. Meanwhile, I expect a number of freshmen to contribute on multiple line ups. Jovannah East and Randi Morris will both shine this season, although we will ease them in to some lineups early on, and Alex Johnston, Lexi Augustine and Taylor Worthington are adding routines."

-- BGSU Gymnastics Head Coach Kerrie Turner

THE OPENER
Bowling Green State University begins its 43rd season of intercollegiate gymnastics when the Falcons travel to University Park, Pa. for a quad meet hosted by Penn State University on Saturday, Jan. 7. The meet begins at 4:00 p.m. ET and will also include Brigham Young University and Temple University. Saturday's event begins the tenth season in the tenure of head coach Kerrie Turner, as well as the final season for three seniors: Lauren Feely, Victoria Heath and Rachel Reis.

THE ALL-TIME SERIES
BGSU has previously faced each of their three opponents in the season-opening meet but only a combined four times. The Falcons defeated the Temple Owls 193.350-190.125 in 1999 at Philadelphia, Pa. in the schools' only all-time meeting. Bowling Green has also faced Penn State only once. That occurred during Turner's first season (2008), and the Falcons lost the road meet to the Nittany Lions 195.025-189.800. BGSU is 0-2 against BYU with losses in 2001 and 2015. In the most recent meet, the Cougars won at Knoxville, Tenn. in the Ozone Collegiate Classic (193.075-191.175). In 2001, the Falcons dropped a 193.600-192.250 decision to BYU in Columbia, Mo. at the CAT Classic.

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION
Meet host Penn State begins the 2017 season ranked 23rd in the preseason coaches' poll. In 2016, the team was 11-7 overall and 6-3 in the Big Ten. The Nittany Lions finished fourth in the Big Ten Championships, then placed fifth overall in Ann Arbor, Mich. at the NCAA Regionals. Penn State has several key returning gymnasts, led by junior Briannah Tsang. Tsang registered PSU's top 2016 score in the vault and floor exercise and represented the team at the 2016 NCAA Championships. Senior Kiera Brown was the top scorer for PSU in uneven bars and all-around and second-highest on vault, beam and floor. Fellow senior Nicole Medvitz posted an amazing 9.975 at the Big Five Qualifier on March 12. Head Coach Jeff Thompson begins his seventh seasona t PSU on Saturday.

BYU is ranked 36th in the preseason coaches' poll following a 2016 season in which the Cougars went 4-9 and placed third in the Mountain Rim Gymnastics Conference. BYU traveled to Minneapolis, Minn. for an appearance in the NCAA Regional and placed sixth overall. The Cougars' squad of 18 athletes includes nine freshmen and four sophomores. Of the returning athletes, only junior Mackenzie Douglas registered a 9.900 or better in 2016. Head Coach Guard Young is in his second season.

Temple finished 1-2 in dual meets in 2016 and won just one of their nine multi-team meets. The Owls had a season-best overall team score of 192.525 at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships, where they placed fifth out of six teams. Senior Briana Odom scored a 9.85 in the floor exercise for the Owls' highest individual score of 2016. Head Coach Umme Salim-Beasley begins her second season on Saturday.

ELITE SCHEDULING
The Falcons' strength of schedule is ranked 29th nationally headed into the 2017 season. The rating is tabulated by reverse-assigning points to each team based on their final 2016 ranking. BGSU's opponents combined to provide 646 points for an average of 49.69. Ten of Bowling Green's 16 opponents are ranked in the 2017 preseason coaches' poll; that includes seven of the team's ten non-conference opponents.

ROUTINE GREATNESS
Bowling Green produced three of the school's top ten all-time team scores in 2016. In a meet against Ohio State and West Virginia, the Falcons posted a 195.725, a mark only eclipsed five times in school history. On Senior Night against Northern Illinois, BGSU shattered the school record with a 196.500. Only once previously in team history had the Falcons broken the 196 barrier. Finally, at the MAC Championships, BGSU scored a 195.625. It was the best team score ever for the Falcons at the MACs and was the tenth-best in team history.

MAKING HISTORY NOW
The Falcons qualified as a team for the NCAA Regionals in 2016. It was the team's first trip to the NCAA postseason in 25 years and the seventh in school history. Bowling Green finished the event with an overall mark of 193.850, the best-ever team score at the event for BGSU. The Falcons also have regional appearances in 1982, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987 and 1991.

WE'VE GOT THAT CHAMPIONSHIP FEEL-Y
Senior Lauren Feely will go down as one of the best gymnasts in BGSU history. She owns a place on BGSU's all-time top-ten individual score lists for vault, floor exercise and all-around competition. She is also just the fifth athlete in team history to win multiple MAC championships and the first since Marny Oestreng (1999-2002). She took the vault championship in 2015, then last season, won the all-around championship with a 39.300. Feely is a two-time Academic All-MAC honoree and was a CoSIDA Academic All-American in 2016.

RANKED IN THE MAC
Several members of the 2017 Falcons finished ranked in the top ten in the MAC for average individual event scores during the 2016 season. Senior Lauren Feely's 9.796 in the vault was third in the MAC, and she ranked fifth in floor exercise and fourth in all-around. Fellow senior Victoria Heath was in the top ten for vault (tenth) and floor (eighth), and the team's third senior, Rachel Reis, ranked tenth on bars. Junior Laura Mitchell (9.798) carried the MAC's best average on the beam, thanks in part to her MAC championship in the event.

PUTTING THE STUDENT IN STUDENT-ATHLETE
Falcon gymnasts value excellence in the classroom just as much as they do in the gym. Last July, BGSU was recognized as having the 19th-best team GPA nationally (3.5312) and nine Falcons were named NACGC/W Scholastic All-America. Five members of the team were recognized as Academic All-MAC following the 2016 season, and Lauren Feely earned CoSIDA Academic All-American honors. In 2016's fall semester, the team GPA rose to 3.677 and nine Falcons carried 4.0 averages.

NEW FACES, HIGHER STAKES
The 2017 Falcons feature an exciting class of newcomers that could make an immediate impact for BGSU and push the returning athletes to new heights. The roster will include six freshmen (Lexi Augustine, Jovannah East, Alex Johnston, Randi Morris, Shannon St. Jean and Taylor Worthington), as well as India McPeak, who is a junior transfer from the University of Michigan.

PRESEASON POLL
The Falcons were picked to finish tied for third in the Mid-American Conference in 2017 as voted on by the league's head coaches. Kent State was selected to win the conference, while Central Michigan was chosen to place second. Eastern Michigan and Bowling Green followed, with Northern Illinois, Western Michigan and Ball State rounding out the conference. In a show of the parity within the conference, each team received one first-place vote in the poll.

GYMNASTICS ADDITIONS
BGSU and head coach Kerrie Turner announced the signings of four student-athletes for the 2018 season in November. The additions are Whitney Cronin (High Point, N.C.), Alexandra Fochler (Cranberry Township, Pa.), Nacaida Kearns (Waterford, Ohio) and Samantha Marion (Franklin Lakes, N.J.).

FOLLOW THE FALCONS
Fans can follow the BGSU Gymnastics team on Twitter @FalconGymn for in-meet updates, news and notes. Links to live stats, video (as available) and away-meet live stats can be found at BGSUFalcons.com. For home meets, fans can follow live stats by downloading the app, "Beyond The Scores," on your smartphone or tablet. Create an account, add "Bowling Green State Gym Team" to your favorites, select the meet, and enjoy an interactive scoring system.