Gymnasts take back Ivy crown

It was time for the showdown on neutral ground. The Quakers and Elis battled it out for the Ivy League gymnastics title last Sunday in Providence. After the dust settled, the Ivy League trophy returned to Philadelphia. The Quakers (5-2) beat Ivy rival Yale and three other squads to win the championship for the third time in four years, taking the crown back from the Elis. "We're ecstatic," Penn junior Nikki LeBrasseur said. "We had some rough spots, but we came through. I think we know who the better team is." Revenge was particularly sweet. The Quakers split two earlier meetings, defeating Yale at the George Washington Invitational and losing in New Haven. The Ivy Championships were to be the tie-breaker. "We feel vindicated," senior co-captain Mary Pedersen said. "We proved what we knew -- that we are better than Yale. We should've beaten them in New Haven, and we deserved to win this meet. They hadn't really matched our scores all season." The entire Ivy championship came down to the last event. Penn started the meet on its strongest event, the balance beam. Battling nerves, the Quakers had a little difficulty summoning up the dexterity required to balance on the four-inch strip. Yale began the meet on the floor exercise, which is generally scored more easily. The Quakers were behind by 1.5 points after the first rotation, but then they went to the floor, and records started dropping. Penn was ahead by 1.3 points as they finished the meet on the uneven bars, and that was all the margin the Quakers needed. "Starting out on beam was difficult, especially in a high-pressure meet," Pedersen said. "At first I was a little worried, but we pulled it together. Coming down to the last event, we weren't sure if we had won the meet. Anything could have happened on bars. Looking back, one fall could have cost us the meet." But Penn didn't falter. The Quakers pushed their own limits, scoring 184.275 points and setting a new school record for the fourth time this season. Penn pulled out the victory by .575 points over Yale. Both the Quakers and Elis were clearly superior to the other squads, demolishing third-place Brown by more than 12 points. "We went in there planning to win, but it was still nerve-wracking," freshman Lori Taylor said. "We pulled together and did really well. This is what we've been training all year for, and the win gets you pumped for the rest of the season." And this was not even the Quakers' finest performance this year. There were still small wobbles that can be worked on and improved. "We knew what we had to do, and we came out on top," junior Rebecca Anderson said. "We had a rough day on beam and bars. We still left obvious room for improvement." As always, individual efforts combined to lead the team to the title. The Quakers won 12 individual medals at the championships. Taylor finished third in the uneven bars. Senior co-captain Mona Nedjar came in fourth on beam. Senior Lynn Aronica finished second to Pedersen in the vault with a 9.5. Two Quakers shared the spotlight. Junior Monique Burton tied Anderson's two-year-old school record to place first in the floor exercise. She is the first Ivy League floor exercise champion the Quakers have had in more than 10 years, and the first Penn Ivy champion besides Pedersen in the past four years. And Pedersen finished first in every event except floor exercise, where she came in second behind Burton. She tied Aronica's school record in the vault with a 9.675 and broke her own all-around record, set earlier this season, with a final mark of 38.4. "This is a wonderful way to finish the Ivy season," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "This season has been one of attaining levels, and there's more yet to do." It will be back to business as usual this week. The Quakers have two meets scheduled, and there are still more goals in sight this season. Their search for respect in the Ivy League is over, but the quest for national recognition continues. "I think we've been noticed through the years," Pedersen said. "They know we're there, that we're an up-and-coming team. I hope our success will bring more respect for Ivy gymnastics in general." The Quakers hope to qualify for the ECAC championships as a team for the first time ever. The top seven teams qualify, and the Quakers are currently ranked fifth. They are battling three other schools for the final three slots. "We are going to make it," Kovic said. "We have every intention of going into the postseason as a team. I firmly believe we can move to the next level."