Gymnasts drop first home meet

Although the Penn gymnasts are only hitting about 72 percent of their routines, performances where they did not fall or make a major error, they feel they are right on the mark for the first meet of the season. In both team's season-opener at Hutchinson Gymnasium Saturday, Penn suffered a 182.5-178.0 loss to Rhode Island that was anything but disappointing. The Quaker tumblers proved they are healthy, strong and ready to compete. Changes in scoring codes and new routines for many of the gymnasts produced scores that were "not necessarily indicative of their performance," according to head coach Tom Kovic. The scoring codes, which are new to the judges as well as the athletes, create a lower base score from which the gymnasts start, while increasing the level of difficulty to attain the perfect score of 10. Despite the changes, a determined Penn squad turned in especially strong scores on the balance beam, in what coach Kovic called the "best beam performance we've had since we won the '92 Ivy Championship at Cornell." Also impressive was the Quakers' performance in the floor excercises, where new routines had been introduced for a number of gymnasts including senior Mary Pedersen, team co-captain and winner of the all-around. "Her 37.375 was the highest score Mary's ever had for a first meet," Kovic said. "She's one of the top all-arounders on the East Coast, and she's on her way to qualifying for a third NCAA regional championship. She won this meet by a mile." Pedersen was satisfied with her performance, stressing she was working out new routines. The first meet showed "where we need to pick up and what we need to work harder on," she said. "I was really happy with the team's performance and think it was a good meet for the freshmen." The freshmen, and the rest of the team, echoed Pedersen's sentiments. "It went really well," freshman Deanna Williams said. "It felt good to get the nerves out. As the season goes on, we'll get better. This showed us where we needed to work." Where the team needs work is in the uneven bars, which has been most affected by the scoring-code changes. The team also needs to prepare itself for the lower scores the new code produces. "You can't really look at the scores. It's how you do personally," senior co-captain Mona Nedjar said. She called her team's performance in the first meet exceptional. "This really showed the strengths and skills of the team," she said. The skills are there, and the strong, healthy Penn squad should only get better as the season continues and they have more opportunities to perform before a judge, Kovic said. He believes by working on their hit percentage in practice, increasing the success of their routines to 90 percent or better, the Quakers will ensure a winning season. "They needed this meet to reinforce their confidence," Kovic said. "They can perform these high level skills." If the Quakers can start hitting a few more routines, they should land on their mark -- the Ivy Championship.