Gymnastics shatters marks at Auburn

The Penn gymnastics team took a rare trip to the south over spring break to compete against some of the nation's toughest teams. The Quakers traveled to North Carolina State to compete at the Wolfpack Invitational March 6 before making their way to Auburn for a March 12 tri-meet with the Tigers and Kentucky. Penn finished last out of six teams at the Wolfpack Invitational and last out of three at Auburn but the Quakers still put together two of their best team performances of the year. The competition was some of the stiffest the Quakers have ever seen. Penn competed against three nationally-ranked teams -- Maryland, Kentucky and NC State -- as well as other schools ranked highly in their regions. Ninth-ranked Maryland placed first at the Wolfpack Invitational with a 195.425, only five-100ths of a point ahead of second-place NC State, which is ranked 24th in the nation. James Madison, William and Mary, Radford and Penn rounded out the competition. James Madison and William and Mary are expected to be Penn's stiffest competition at the ECAC Championships March 27. Penn's score of 187.850 at NC State was its third-highest of the season but placed the Quakers 2.5 points behind the Dukes and two behind the Tribe. "It was a really productive trip for us," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "Our goal was to boost our regional ranking score and we did that." Senior co-captain Molly Sullivan improved her chances of qualifying for individual postseason competition with a 38.025 in the all-around. She led the Quakers with a 9.475 on the vault and tied sophomore Jennifer Capasso for the best Penn score on the beam with a 9.675 at the Wolfpack Invite. Freshman Sarah Tudryn was the top Quaker on the bars with a 9.525 while junior Becky Nadler led Penn with a 9.675 on the floor. At Auburn six days later, the Quakers broke one individual school record, set five personal bests and tallied their highest team score of the season. Penn's score of 189.325 trailed national No. 21 Kentucky, which led the pack at Auburn with a 195.250. The host Tigers turned in a 193.300. "We had our best performances this year on the beam and vault at Auburn," Capasso said. "It was our second-highest team score since I've been here." Penn's team score was not just the second-highest in Capasso's two years, it was also the Quakers' second highest all-time, trailing only last year's 190.575 at ECACs. Sullivan once again led the Quakers with a strong all-around score of 38.225. Penn was actually leading the meet after the first event with its vault score of 47.375. Sophomores Amanda Tiffany and Kelly Haberer gave strong performances for the Quakers in the event, scoring 9.550 and 9.425, respectively. Penn's other season-best performance came on the beam, where the Quakers scored a 48.425. The team was led by sophomore Sarah Bruscia's school-record 9.825 -- which broke teammate Lizzie Jacobson's old mark of 9.8 -- and Sullivan's 9.700. "We were 6-for-6 on beam at the Auburn meet, which is really good to have going into ECACs," Bruscia said. "We are doing really well on the vault and beam right now." The Quakers scored a 48.150 on the floor exercise. Capasso's career-best 9.750 and Sullivan's 9.700 were the top marks for Penn. Penn's toughest event of the day was the bars, which has been a consistent problem this season. The event score of 45.375 prevented the Quakers, who suffered three falls, from breaking the 190-point mark. "We had the same problem fizzling on bars that we had at Towson," Kovic said. "Bars is the event that has to come together in the next two weeks. We need to feel confident that we can hit 24-of-24 routines [in all four events]." With the ECACs looming 10 days away, confidence will be especially important for the Quakers as they enter the final stage of their season and push for their second consecutive title.