The 2025 season has come to a close, and what a historic year it was for college gymnastics. With newcomers making immediate and significant impacts across the country, new qualifiers making it to the finals stages of competition, and post season upsets, individuals and teams across the country made statements and set the stage for the years to come. That being said, a team doesn’t have to make it all the way to the national championships to make a real splash.
Since 2023, Penn State has had some of its best finishes in program history. In the past three years, the team has finished with a national ranking in the top 25, has consecutively qualified to regionals as a group, and has continued to accumulate accolades both through individuals on the team and for the team as a whole. The Nittany Lions want to continue that success.
To do that, they’ll have to overcome some significant losses. This team is losing a total of seven seniors and fifth years this May. While that is a significant loss, they are moving into future seasons with more experienced underclassmen and incoming athletes who will be essential to keeping this program’s momentum going for years to come.
Elizabeth Leary, who made her freshman debut this season for the Lions, as well as rising senior Ava Piedrahita, who has been a member of this team since 2023, both speak to the grit, drive, and passion this most recent team embodied. “I am extremely proud of this team for not giving up,” said Leary. “We had bumps in the road, injuries here and there, and all of our grit [along with] the underclassmen really stepping up, shows how much potential we are going to have in the future.”
Leary competed as a consistent all-arounder throughout her first season, and is one of a class of five freshmen who all regularly had counting scores as regular competitors. There are always aspects of competition to figure out when coming into the NCAA, so to have all five freshmen compete consistently throughout their first year, speaks to this group’s determination to get into these lineups and solidify themselves in these spots as the year progressed.
Some teams enter a new season having relied heavily on veterans in past seasons, while the newer athletes get little to no experience. Whether this is due to a nagging club injury that followed an athlete to college, not making that top six right out of the gate, or having upperclassmen who have shown what they are capable of in their previous season, is not very common for an entire freshman class to compete consistently and contribute big, counting scores to the team total.
“This year, with all five of our freshmen competing, it set a standard,” shared Piedrahita. “It’s no longer, ‘just because you are a freshman, you don’t get experience or compete.’ The incoming freshmen will hopefully be able to see what [that group did] and build on it.” With this group of rising sophomores already having a full competition year under their belts, they can enter next season having experience and knowing how to cope with the unique pressure of college gymnastics. With another group of five coming in, they will be able to see what the previous group was capable of, and know that it is possible to break into lineups your first year and have an immediate impact if you are willing to do the work.
Though it pushed through, this Penn State team was not without its obstacles this season. The Lions were able to have a successful season even while a handful of key contributors were missing, a true testament to what the mindset cultivated in the gym. Piedrahita, an athlete who has been a mainstay in the lineups for the past two years, had an unfortunate injury that kept her out of competition this season. However, she had the unique experience of seeing how the team was able to recover and make adjustments when the situations weren’t perfect. “Even with the injuries we did have, we never really felt a ‘dip’ in our performance,” Piedrahita said. “People were stepping up and keeping up with the standard we set for ourselves early on.” Relying on training, trusting one another, and approaching each competition with the same intensity–even with the injuries the team has suffered or other hiccups in the road–has been crucial for what the Lions have been able to do this season.
Penn State had the opportunity to be a regional host this year, which can lead to an increase in nerves. The stakes of a home regional can feel high, but it’s also exciting to go into the competition knowing the environment, the equipment, and having the advantage of not having to make too many adjustments. “We approached this meet in the same way we would go into any other home meet. We really were able to use all the energy in the crowd, even if it was for other teams, we were able to use that for us too,” expressed Leary. “We all felt it was a bigger meet, but we trained the same for this day and went into the competitions the way we always would.”
Going into this season, the team knew getting to this point was the goal, and created the mindset long before competition day. Piedrahita shared, “We can’t put so much pressure on the season. … If we are having an off meet, we know to recover.” Leary added to this, emphasizing the work they put in in the gym and how it helped to build the trust they have in one another if a mistake does happen; when it comes down to it, they know the rest of the team has their back.
With another group of five incoming freshmen this 2025-2026 season, five rising sophomores, and only seven upperclassmen, this next team is going to be another one that looks to its freshmen to be contributors. At this point, the goal of making it to regionals is a goal that the team hopes to surpass; “We need to continue to raise our goals,” said Leary. “[We would love] to make it to the next round of regionals or qualify to the night session of Big 10s.”
The mentality already heading into the next year is to exceed the goals they set last year, Piedrahita added, to pick up where they left off in the end of 2025, and continue to build on the foundation they have created the past three seasons. “The buy-in is a huge part,” said Leary, “If we emphasize what we did this year, and have the next group want to be a part of it and buy into our goals and mentality, we will have an even better year.”
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Article by Julianna Roland
