Pedersen excels at NCAA regionals

Hoping only to get through her routines and improve on her 14th-place finish from the year before, senior co-captain Mary Pedersen traveled to the NCAA regionals in Rhode Island Saturday. She knew it was the last meet of her career and was determined to make it the best. Pedersen did just that, finishing sixth with 38.25 points. Two gymnasts from New Hampshire tied for first place at 38.8. "I didn't expect to finish so high," Pedersen said. "I screwed up a little on floor, but I still had all my difficulty and bonus points. I stayed on the beam. My vault was the best all year. It feels really great." Pedersen already owned three of the five Penn individual records, and had led the team to the third Ivy championship in four years. But regionals presented competition on a higher level than the Ivy League ever could. "Mary always runs at full capacity," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "She doesn't know how to do it any other way. She has a determination to maximize her potential." Pedersen qualified with the first individual seed in the all-around competition. Though the Quakers finished ninth on the East Coast, only the top seven squads were allowed to compete. Instead of being surrounded by her teammates, Pedersen was in the same rotation with the top squad, Penn State. "Mary was traveling with a Penn State team that was upset by New Hampshire for the chance to qualify for the NCAA finals," Kovic said. "They started on vault and went through impeccably, but choked on beam. As their mistakes became that much more evident, their focus was on their team and the national championship. Mary was left more and more to herself as the meet progressed, but she's a tough individual. She understood the situation and wanted to do the best she could, and she did." Though there were no other Quakers competing at URI, there was still some Penn support there. Besides the Pedersen family, who have been at nearly every meet of their daughter's career, there was a strong alumni presence. "Mary is a leader by example first and foremost," Kovic said. "She is the most efficient, hardest-working athlete that I've had the pleasure to coach. Her presence, persistence and dedication and high-quality work ethic is what you want everyone to rise towards. But the greatest thing about Mary is her passion and love for the sport." The only opponents that mattered to Pedersen were within herself, and she overcame them to shatter senior Lynn Aronica's vaulting record, receiving a 9.725. "I've done everything I've wanted to do," Pedersen said. "I like gymnastics because it's exciting and scary. I always said I'd stop doing gymnastics when it stopped being fun. That never happened. It's hard, sometimes it's painful and disappointing, but what's underlying is that it's fun." Pedersen was also honored for her excellence throughout the year. She was named the Northeast region senior athlete of the year by the NCAA coaches' committee. No Ivy athlete has ever received this title before. "I was shocked," Pedersen said. "I really didn't expect it. It feels great to be recognized for something I've spent 12 years of my life doing. I don't think they can understand how much it means to me, to know other coaches have noticed." To Pedersen and Kovic, this award is still more proof that, in gymnastics, you never know what's going to happen. "It's a tribute to the team, to Mary, and to Ivy gymnastics in general," Kovic said. "All the coaches in the Northeast acknowledged all she's gone through in the past four years and honored a kid from a non-scholarship, strong academic institution who can compete at this level." "It's just starting to hit me that it's over," Pedersen said. "As far as my college career goes, I'm pleased. This was my best year at Penn. I wouldn't want to have finished any other way."