Maybe the third time will be the charm for the Penn gymnastics team against Temple. The Quakers head across town for the Freedom Classic tonight at 6 p.m. to face the team that has finished ahead of them twice already this year. Temple competed against Penn at both the George Washington Invitational and the Towson Invitational earlier this season. The Owls took fifth while the Quakers took sixth at GW on January 23 and finished fourth while the Quakers took fifth at Towson on February 22. The Freedom Classic will also feature West Chester, but the Golden Rams should not be much of a factor. The Quakers defeated them 185.200-172.950 on February 17 in a meet which also included Ursinus and Wilson. The real competition for Penn will be the Owls. At the George Washington Invitational, Temple outscored the Quakers 185.400-183.300. At the Towson Invitational, the Owls again edged Penn, 187.575-187.150. The Quakers were in a position to finish ahead of Temple at Towson until the last event, at which point Penn suffered five falls on the bars to drop from third to fifth, placing them behind the Owls. "Temple beat us twice, I think it's our turn now," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "They're a good team but a beatable team." The Quakers will compete on bars first in their rotation, which should help their performance. Penn has struggled at meets where it has had to finish on the bars, including the Towson Invite. Since there will be three teams competing in four events, the Quakers will have two byes during the competition -- providing a stark contrast to the typical gymnastics meet where teams move quickly from event to event. "A normal dual meet has a fast pace," Kovic said. "Now it will be critical for us to maintain our focus during the byes and prepare for our next event." Kovic will be returning to his alma mater tonight. He was a four-year gymnastics varsity letterwinner for the Owls in the mid-1970s and qualified for the NCAA Championships every year. "Going back to McGonigle Hall has special meaning to me," Kovic said. "That's where I spent four years. Sometimes I just like to go back and peek in." Penn senior co-captain Molly Sullivan can boost her strong qualifying status for the NCAA Regionals with a strong performance tonight. She is ranked 13th in the region with an average of 37.7562 in the all-around but is first among gymnasts who are not on regional-qualifying teams. That means that she would be the No. 1 seed for individuals competing at Regionals. According to Sullivan, being the top seed would be a major advantage. "If I go in as the first seed, I will rotate with the No. 1 seeded team," Sullivan said. "The top teams usually get higher scores which would help my scores." The Quakers are also hoping to improve their team regional qualifying score. Penn is currently ranked eighth in Region 5 with a Regional Qualifying Score of 187.5002. That places them two spots behind Rhode Island, which is currently the last qualifying team. But the Quakers trail the Rams by five points, which will be nearly impossible to make up in the two remaining meets. Penn's Regional Qualifying Score is still important, regardless of the team's qualifying position, because it will affect the Quakers' rotation at the seven-team ECAC Championships next weekend, where they will be the marked team as the defending champions. "The rotation at ECAC is based on seedings which are based on regional rankings," Sullivan said. "We want a high enough seed so that we don't have bars last." First and foremost, however, the Quakers will seek revenge against Temple and continued dominance over West Chester. A high score tonight should take care of that and everything else.
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