Gymnasts come close

When the Penn gymnastics team traveled to the nation's capital last Friday night to compete in the George Washington Invitational, victory was not high on its list of priorities. William & Mary surprised the host Colonials, winning the meet overall. And although the Quakers only finished fifth out of seven teams, a good performance was all Penn really wanted to take home. And the Quakers did just that, breaking the 180-point barrier and turning in the school's strongest GW Invitational mark in history. With an average score of nine out of 10 on each event, the team finished only one-tenth behind third-place Maryland, and one point behind Temple. The GW Invitational is unusual because the number of teams competing causes long breaks between events. The competition was also of an extremely high quality. But from their first performance on the beam, the Quakers rose to the challenge. "We had byes between rounds when we just sat around, waited and watched," Penn junior Staci Standen said. "Some people got a little bit out of focus temporarily. But I don't think it affected anybody's performance." "It's tough to start on beam," junior Monique Burton said. "It's really loud in the gym and there's a lot of pressure, and beam is an event you can fall on easier than any other. A fall can give you a bad start, but doing well sets a good pace. We did a really good job." Going into the competition, the Quakers were worried because their two previous meets had been cancelled by the weather. Though the team faltered slightly on the floor exercise, performances on uneven bars -- the Quakers' weakest event this season -- were greatly improved. Penn had a two-point increase in scores on this event Friday night. "Everyone performed well in a pressure situation," junior Heather Kahn said. "We had a rough start on floor, but we pulled through. Our bars performances were much better this weekend. Everyone made their routines because we had more time in the gym to practice and perfect." "We wanted to show that we're a good team, and that we belong at that meet," Burton said. "I think we did." Besides proving their worth, beating last year's Ivy-champion Yale squad was the key factor in this meet, since the Quakers face the Elis again this weekend. "The Penn-Yale gymnastics rivalry is terrific," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "They're basically our competition in the Ivy League. The Invitational gave us a complete indication of what Yale has -- who they recruited, what the team's strengths and weaknesses are." Individuals also excelled. After turning in a meet-record 9.65 on the uneven bars, senior co-captain Mary Pedersen finished fifth in the all-around competition. Pedersen's victory marked the first time a Penn athlete has won an event at the GW Invitational. Burton triumphed as well, with a fourth-place finish and a personal best of 9.5 in the floor exercise. "It's good to compete in that atmosphere," Burton said. "A lot of people are really great gymnasts, and there's an added incentive to do your best." And though the Quakers did not win the meet, it was truly an evening of victorious firsts.