Penn beats weak West Chester

The West Chester gymnastics team has made a lot of friends this year, and Penn is certainly one of them. The Golden Rams (1-9) continued their hospitable ways yesterday by allowing the Quakers (5-5) to clobber them, 181.82 to 169.37, in front of the Quakers' home crowd at Hutchinson Gymnasium. The Quakers opened the meet with a solid performance on the vault, compiling a team score of 45.65. Sophomore Kathleen Gunn led the way with a score of 9.32. But freshmen classmates Molly Sullivan and Suzi Marin were not to be outdone, as they posted scores of 9.2 and 9.12, respectively. Heading into the second rotation, the uneven bars, the Quakers had a comfortable 6.75 point lead, which may have led to a little complacency. Penn struggled throughout the event and posted its worst net score on bars since the January 27 George Washington Invitational, earning a mere 42.80 points. The only bright spot was a strong performance from Marin, whose score of 9.07 was the meet's best in the event. But Marin suffered a slight groin injury while completing her routine and was not able to finish the meet. After a performance on bars that left Penn head coach Tom Kovic shaking his head, the balance beam was the last event the Quakers wanted to deal with. All season long, the balance beam has been a source of frustration for the team. Clearly Penn needed a boost, and it was captain Lori Taylor who came through. Taylor performed with the confidence that had been missing throughout the meet and earned a score of 9.40. "I think that any good performance at that kind of time, when the team is down, is really inspiring," Quakers sophomore Meredith Daly, who followed the lead of her captain by scoring a 9.25. Just moments after Daly competed, Sullivan jumped onto the beam and topped both of her teammates with a 9.55. But it was senior Shelly Waldman who ultimately stole the show. Waldman performed a near-flawless routine that earned a score of 9.65, just .05 points away from the team record set last year by Gunn. Sullivan's all-around score of 37.15 was the best performance of her collegiate career.