Gymnastics overcomes injury to Manley, wins twice

In gymnastics the difference between success and failure can be painfully resonating. At best, the slightest miscue can lead to the deduction of a few precious tenths of a point, at worst, to devastating injury. In the midst of the Quakers' meet this weekend against Cornell and Indiana University of Pennsylvania, freshman Beth Manley got a taste of the bitter reality of her sport. Attempting to dismount to conclude a fantastic effort on the uneven bars, Manley said she "landed on the dismount and heard a snap." That "snap" came from an already sore ankle which she sprained in November. Although the injury was not immediately diagnosed, coach Tom Kovic expects her to be out of action anywhere from a month to the entire season. On the other hand, he is very confident about her recovery. "If there's anyone who loves competing, it's Beth. By hook or crook, she'll find a way to come back," he said. Despite the disappointing injury, the Quakers kept their composure and pieced together their best meet of the season, winning with a score of 183. The Big Red placed second with 173.9 points and IUP third with a tally of 159.3. "Today we were competing with our strongest team and to come away with the score we did, I'm thrilled," Kovic said. The two wins up the Quakers' record to 4-1 on the season. Cornell goes to 1-2 and IUP falls to 0-2 for the year. As they did last Thursday against Ursinus and West Chester, the Quakers swept all four events. Co-captain Monique Burton led the way, winning the balance beam and the floor exercises. In the latter, the senior broke the school record, notching a score of 9.8. On the floor mat, Burton hooked-up with fellow co-captain Nicole LeBrasseur, Kathleen Gunn, Staci Standen, Lori Taylor and Michelle Arnheim to break Penn's team record in the floor exercises. Pleased, but not overly impressed with her performance, Burton remarked, "I was really happy with my floor routine today, but of course I can always find things to improve on as the season continues." Freshman Shilpa Rao took first place on the uneven bars for the second meet in a row with a score of 9.6. The mark represents a vast improvement over her last victory on the bars, which she captured with an 8.95. Senior Staci Standen won the vault with an average score of 9.25. On a day when Penn won every event, the vaulting performance impressed Kovic the most. "The vaulting team was spectacular. I thought they did a really good job," he said. Kathleen Gunn rounded out the individual winners, taking first in the all-around competition with 36.85 points. The freshman was coming off a record-setting performance on the balance beam two days earlier. So with four wins in a row, the Quakers have found themselves on a roll of sorts. With the injury to Manley, however, the team doesn't find its personnel situation in any better shape. After two strenuous meets within 48 hours, Penn will have a week to recover until it travels south to the George Washington Invitational in the nation's capital this weekend.