On Saturday afternoon, sophomore Emily Petkun and the rest of the Penn gymnastics team broke records over and over again as if it were, well, a broken record.
Petkun, recently named Penn's Athlete of the Week, obtained career-high scores in the all-around and beam, while also scoring a season-high 9.6 on the vault.
Her scores were high enough to earn her first overall in three out of four events: all around, beam and floor. The other event, the bars, was dominated by Penn junior Laura Bouchelle, who scored a personal high of 9.85.
The team's victories over Cornell and James Madison in Saturday's tri-meet in Ithaca, N.Y., were a high point of the Quakers' season, not only because they improved their record to 11-1 overall and 2-0 in the Ivy League, but because their score of 193.575 was the highest in the history of the program.
Coming just two weeks after the Quakers set the gymnastics program's high score at 192.725 against Temple, West Chester and Wilson, this recent performance is a sign that the team will continue to improve upon its already stellar season.
The team's collective scores in the vault and beam events were good enough to be season highs and second in the program's history. In addition, the Quakers' scores on bars and the floor were in the top five all-time.
Cornell and James Madison, respectively scoring 189.925 and 192.025, were unable to perform at the level of most of the Quakers gymnasts, many of whom obtained their personal best scores.
Ten Quakers performed the best they have all season, setting personal highs. Four of these outstanding gymnasts achieved top five all-time scores, corresponding with the day's record-setting trend.
The Red and Blue will return to Ithaca next week for the 2004 Ivy Classic, hoping to carry their momentum from this past weekend.
