A few blown-out knees cannot and will not stop the Penn gymnastics team.
The Quakers are determined not to let injuries stand in the way of their quest for an Ivy League championship.
Penn travels to Yale this weekend to face a strong Elis squad -- the gymnasts that stole the championship from the Quakers last year.
"Yale's always such a great rivalry," Penn senior co-captain Juliana Mariani said. "It would be great to go in and intimidate them."
The Elis handed Penn one of the three losses it tallied last season, knocking off the Quakers by a score of 190.450 to 186.625. Yale also claimed the Ivy League championships, an honor the Red and Blue had previously held four years in a row.
Yale heads into this weekend's matchup with a 1-1 record. The Elis were narrowly defeated in their last match by Massachusetts, losing by a mere .075 points.
"[Yale's] started out very strong this season," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. "And they picked up some very strong freshmen."
The Quakers' season is off to a rocky start. They are currently 0-1 in Ivy League competition and placed fifth out of six teams in the George Washington Invitational.
In this weekend's meet, Kovic is hoping to improve upon the team's earlier performances.
"At Cornell we were at a 65 percent hit ratio, and at George Washington we were about 75 percent," Kovic said. "We're looking to go to New Haven [Conn.] and hit in the 85 to 90 percent range."
In order to stay in the running for another Ivy League championship, Kovic knows that his team will have to work together.
"It is really a time for a group effort," he said. "The upperclassmen need to pull the freshmen, and the freshmen need to set up the team."
Thus far, the freshmen have risen to the occasion. In last weekend's Invitational, first-year Laura Bouchelle placed third in the vault with a score of 9.7. Fellow rookie Colleen McGue added a 20th place finish in the floor exercise, scoring 9.425.
Kovic has full confidence that his young team will be able to reach the goal of an Ivy championship.
"We have a team of very courageous women," Kovic said. "They are stepping up and doing what they can do.
"It has sort of been baptism by fire. They have to get in there and mature whether they want to or not."
Though Kovic knows that it may be difficult for these freshmen, he is pleased with their performances thus far.
"From a coaching standpoint, I couldn't be more proud," he said.
The older athletes agree.
"Everyone's been training really hard and put 100 percent into practices," Mariani said. "I think it's going to pay off."
During the remainder of the season, Kovic has faith that his team will return to their championship winning form.
"We compete using accomplished artistic gymnastics," he said. "We just need to be consistent in competition."
