Gymnastics hosts Rams in opener

The new year brought a new set of regulations for the Penn women's gymnastics team. That means the Quakers will not only be competing against a tough Rhode Island squad tomorrow (1 p.m., Hutchinson Gym), but also against the rule books. "This meet is new for us, for everyone involved," junior Rebecca Anderson said. "Because it's the first meet, and not a league meet, it's most important to get through our routines in front of the judge." The judging may prove to be a big problem for the Quakers. A perfect score in gymnastics is 10, which is calculated from a base score, plus bonus points allocated for especially challenging combinations of moves. The new rules lower the base scores, while raising the difficulty of moves needed to gain points. It will make top marks extremely hard to attain. "We do not use a risky style of gymnastics," Penn head coach Tom Kovic said. "But out of necessity, difficulty has been added to almost everyone's routine. We see the revision of the code as a challenge, and they've risen to the challenge as a team across the board." Only the top six scores in each event count towards the team's total. Judges generally build from the first performer, which is usually the weakest individual's score. Therefore, new rules will be hardest on this first competitor. "The scoring will be a little bit more unexpected," Anderson said. "We don't really know what the judges are going to do with the new scoring system." "We've had a lot of new rule changes so the scores are going to be different," senior co-captain Mary Pedersen said. "They've made it harder, so we have to throw more difficult skills. A lot of our scores will start lower." The lowered scores will be most apparent in the uneven bars, the Quakers' weakest event. "Scores have been devalued to lower levels," Kovic said. "Bars will be an extremely hard event to score on this year. Overall, I expect low to mid-180 range scores." After their injury-plagued second-place Ivy League finish last season, the Quakers are looking forward to a new start. With a solid core of upperclassmen bolstered by four freshmen, Penn believes it is prepared to regain the Ivy title and challenge in the ECAC. The returning team members, among them Anderson, junior Monique Burton, and sophomore Shelly Waldman, will add much-needed depth to the Quaker squad. "I think we'll have improvements," senior co-captain Mona Nedjar said. "Not only have the freshmen added to our team, but the upperclassmen have all gotten stronger." But Rhode Island is coming off its most successful season in school history, 13-6, with eight letter-winners returning. The Rams will give the Quakers tough competition. But Penn is not frightened of its adversaries. Team attitudes varied from noncommittal to grateful for the challenge. "They're a really, really strong team," junior Nicole LeBrasseur said. "They're a scholarship school, and they'll be tough to beat." The Quakers' only competition so far this year has been against themselves, in an intrasquad meet in December. The combination of the lack of meet performances, the toughness of the Rams, the multitudes of rule changes and nagging injuries make this meet a challenge for Penn. It also makes the Quakers more determined to put on a good performance at home. The team members have specific overall goals for themselves, not only for this meet, but for the season as a whole. "We have a goal," junior Staci Standen said. "We want to have a 90-percent hit rate -- 90 percent of our routines where we didn't fall or have major errors." "This year we're working through injuries as much as we can," Nedjar said. "Last year we had some really bad injuries that took their toll and took some people out of competition. This year we're more able to focus on what we can and can't do and avoid those things that hurt worst, so we can be the best as a team." The women's gymnastics team has new members, new uniforms and a new outlook. The Quakers are ready to start the season and face the new rules.

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