Gymnasts tumble to Owls

Your preschool teacher probably told you every cloud has a silver lining. Well, for Penn's gymnastics team, the bright side of a 185.625 to 180.375 loss to Temple last night is it only has to go up against the Owls once more in the regular season. The loss represented the second one the Owls have dealt the Red and Blue, quite the nuisance when you consider Penn's 8-3 record. Despite dropping the contest, Penn posted some very impressive individual performances. Freshman Kathleen Gunn came up huge, winning the all-around competition with 36.775 points. Senior co-captain Monique Burton also put on a tour de force of her own, winning the floor exercises with a score of 9.55 and placing third in the all-around. "We did a good job on three out of four events," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. The Quakers' weakest event was the uneven bars, unfortunate because Temple excels in that area. However, freshman Shilpa Rao managed to nab third place with a score 9.425. The Quakers can take solace in the knowledge they were able to push Temple (12-3) to its highest point total of the season while garnering a respectable tally of their own. In this dual, it was a matter of experience. "They're a group that's been together for a long period of time," Kovic said. Indeed, with only two freshmen compared to Penn's five, the pendulum of experience clearly swung in the Owls' favor yesterday evening. The meet marked the return of Kovic, a Temple alum, to McGonigle Hall, the scene of many a triumph in his career as a collegiate gymnast. "That arena is very special to me," he said. For the future Penn alums, though, the loss dropped their series record against the Owls to 5-25. The meet's result brought Penn to a crossroads. From this point on, each meet will be off critical importance, with the Ivy Classic just over a week away and the ECACs not far behind. But before the Quakers can move onto to any of those crucial tests, they'll have to get through the prestigious Towson Invitational tomorrow. There they'll go up against some of the best teams in the south -- including North Carolina, Maryland, William & Mary and George Washington -- and of course Temple.