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This was not the way that it was supposed to end. The Penn gymnastics team (5-7) had hoped it would finally break the 182-point mark for the first time this season at the Eastern College Athletic Conference tournament on Saturday. But it was not to be as the Quakers took fourth place with a score of 179.175. Northeastern, the heavy favorite, easily won the tournament, earning a score of 186.450. Vermont finished second with 184.525, and Yale's 183.450 mark was good enough for third place. Brown and Cornell rounded out the field with scores of 174.450 and 171.075, respectively. Penn opened the meet with the floor exercises, a rotation that has been a strong point for the Quakers throughout the season. Once again Penn came through on the floor, earning a combined team score of 46.650. All five Quakers earned a 9.00 or higher, led by freshman Molly Sullivan's 9.475. Senior Shelly Waldman finished just behind Sullivan with a 9.450, her strongest floor performance of the season in her final collegiate performance. Sophomores Kathleen Gunn scored a 9.350, and Carin Kaplan received a 9.325. But the Quakers could not maintain their momentum into the second rotation, the vault. Only Gunn topped the 9.00-point mark with a 9.125 score. But the rest of the team struggled, and Penn earned a combined score of only 44.075. At the halfway point, the Quakers were already three full points behind Northeastern, despite the strong floor performance. In order to have any chance of breaking the 182 points or of challenging for one of the top three spots, Penn would have to have two near-perfect performances in its two worst events. But from the start of the third rotation -- the uneven bars -- it was clear that was not to be. Only Sullivan, with a 9.00, and Gunn, with a 9.050, topped nine points. The rest of the team earned 7.00s and 8.00s, resulting in a combined score of only 43.050. Northeastern, on the other hand, cruised to a 46.300, the highest bars score of the meet. The Quakers finished up the season on the balance beam with a solid team score, but it was not nearly enough to push Penn into the top three places. Waldman, the last Penn gymnast to compete, had the team's best performance, earning a score of 9.300. "I think in general the performance was actually very good," Quakers sophomore Meredith Daly said. "There were a couple of unexpected errors, but I think the scoring was a little tougher than usual." Looking back upon the 1996 season, Penn coach Tom Kovic said that despite the lackluster record, it was a good season. "At the beginning of the season it was a young team," Kovic said. "They needed to get into the fight and take the bumps and bruises. I'm very proud of how they were able to do that. They picked themselves up in adverse situations." Although the Quakers never succeeded in their goals of defeating Yale or breaking the 182-point mark, the season was not without its highlights. "Look back on the season," Kovic said. "We finished second at Ivies, fourth at ECACs, plus Sullivan won the Ivy all-around and ECAC Rookie of the Year." "It's been a hard season, but its been worth it," Penn freshman Susie Marin said. "There have been a lot of ups and downs. But the ups have been real nice."

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