Pedersen set for NCAA regionals

She knew she would never be "one of those little, skinny, pretty, dancing gymnasts," but she stayed with the sport anyway. Ten years later, senior Mary Pedersen has been co-captain of the Penn gymnastics team for two years, and holds three of five individual records. But she is still not satisfied. This has been a very special season for Penn gymnastics, and she is determined to end it with a bang. Tomorrow Pedersen will be at Rhode Island, the lone Quaker competitor in the NCAA regionals. Pedersen is no stranger to NCAA competition, having finished 14th in the all-around at regionals in both her freshman and junior years. Seeded first among individual competitors, this year Pedersen hopes to finish in the top 10. "I'm not looking for a score, or to win the all-around," Pedersen said. "It will be great to hit all my routines. I will be a success if I go out and do the best I can." While he does not want to put any additional pressure onto Pedersen's shoulders, Penn coach Tom Kovic has even higher hopes for her. "Mary will not be doing anything different in this competition than she has in the last four years," Kovic said. "She's going to compete at the highest level she can. I honestly feel she can finish in the top six in the all-around." Gymnastics is a dangerous sport, and Pedersen is one athlete who knows that all too well. Interested in tumbling by her circus-acrobat father, Pedersen begun formal gymnastics at an early age. Her first coach was very overprotective, to the point of stifling the 10-year-old Pedersen's natural abilities. Luckily for Pedersen, she switched clubs and coaches, and met Randy Pendergast. "Mary's old coach made her strong, but he mentally defeated her," Pendergast said. "At the beginning, it was a challenge trying to get through to the scared kid, like pulling teeth to get her to do things. I tried to make her realize she can do something wrong and learn from the experience without getting hurt." And Pedersen listened and learned from Pendergast, and her gymnastics improved immeasurably. She credits him with keeping her involved in the sport for so long. "The first coach I had scared me to death," Pedersen said. "Since I've spent most of my life in the gym, Randy has been very important. I feel very lucky that somehow I found him. He took me farther in gymnastics than I ever thought I could go." In an attempt to go still farther and improve her routines to the national level, Pedersen has added an additional double Salto backward somersault. With only two weeks to perfect her routines, this is a big change, but it is something Pedersen has always wanted to do. "Since I've started throwing doubles, I've wanted to do two," Pedersen said. "It's new and scary and hard but it's what I want to do. I've wanted to do it all year." Even with the new tumbling pass, the regional competition will be extremely difficult. On top of that, Pedersen will be traveling to Rhode Island alone. The Quakers finished the season in ninth place, one short of qualifying for the meet. "It's gotten a lot harder to go by myself as I've gotten older, as I've progressed," Pedersen said. "Freshman year it wasn't so bad, because I didn't know what it was like to be on a team. Junior year it was a little harder. It was a rough season, I was tired and the team had always been there cheering me on. This year it's probably the worst, because this team has done a great job of getting together." Penn had its best season in history this year. The Quakers set the school scoring record five times on the way to their third Ivy title in four years. They topped it off by qualifying for the ECAC championships for the first time ever. A leader by example, Pedersen is proud of the advances the Quakers have made during her four years. "There has been definite progress," Pedersen said. "It's really amazing. We've just gotten stronger and stronger. When I first started, we were shooting for 180s. This year is so amazing. We were going 182-183. To me, this is incredible. A lot is due to Tom Kovic. He's brought the program to a new level." As the first individual seed, Pedersen will be competing with the top team, Penn State. "It's a perfect opportunity for Mary," Kovic said. "She is as strong, if not stronger, than the girls on that team. She will rise to that level. All she can expect is the best from herself." "Other teams have been very supportive," Pedersen said. "They understand that you're all alone. But at Penn, there's not one person. It's a team. Everybody counts." But tomorrow there will only be one.