Gymnasts to dose of reality in Washington

The nation's capital, a city where power struggles are as pedestrian as potholes, saw a very different sort of clash Saturday. At the George Washington Invitational some of the East's strongest gymnastics teams met in an important mid-season meet. Penn went into D.C. on fumes, having expended a great deal of energy during three meets in the previous nine days, hoping to send a message. Instead the Quakers received what coach Tom Kovic called a "reality check." The four-hour contest saw the gymnastics team finish sixth in a field of eight with 180.5 points. Winning the invitational were the host Colonials with a tally of 186.4. The four other entrants who finished in front of Penn were Temple (184.975), Maryland (184.7), Yale (181.875) and William & Mary (181.775). Penn did manage to outdistance Southern Connecticut and Springfield, who ended up with 178.85 and 174.6 points respectively. The afternoon began promisingly enough. The Quakers stormed out of the gate, performing impressively in their best two events, the floor exercises and the vault. Senior co-captain Monique Burton performed brilliantly on the mat, winning the event overall with a score 9.725. Kovic saw her performance as the highlight of the afternoon. "Any time you come home with a champ from a meet like this, you have to be excited," he said. She and teammates Carin Kaplan, Lori Taylor, Kathleen Gunn, Nicole LeBrasseur and Staci Standen amassed 46.925 points with their floor routines. After the floor and vault, Penn stood second in the competition. Unfortunately, the third station, the uneven bars, proved be the team's downfall. Suffering some untimely falls, the Quakers picked up only 41.35 points, effectively dropping them out of contention to win the Invitational. They did manage to rebound with a strong showing on the balance beam, where they grabbed 46 points. While their placement in this very strong field may not have been astounding, the Quakers did learn a bit by seeing Ivy rival Yale, whom they will host this Saturday at Hutch Gym. The Elis nosed them out by a little more than a point and a quarter, but Penn saw enough to re-adjust their approach for next weekend's dual meet. With the toughest stretch of the season behind them, the Quakers can look forward to having some time to prepare for some very important meets down the road, the first of which will be against Yale.