For the Penn gymnastics team, the journey may be over for all but one. Junior Jordan Brewer will find out tomorrow whether her score is good enough to join teammate Marissa Rosen - who has already qualified - at NCAA Regionals.
But for the rest of the Quakers, the season ended Saturday in Williamsburg with a sixth-place finish in the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championship.
Coach John Ceralde had characterized it last week as "anyone's meet," but only two teams finished below Penn. Towson captured first place - and its fourth consecutive title -with 193.950 points.
While the Red and Blue had been performing better lately, they were unable to carry their intensity over into the ECAC title fight: Their 188.575 score was their lowest in a month and almost two points lower than their total against Rhode Island last week.
Though the Quakers fell markedly short in the team contest, Rosen continued her assault on the record books.
The sophomore post an outstanding 9.900 on the floor exercise, a personal record and tied for third in Penn gymnastics history. The nearly perfect routine was enough to claim her first ECAC title.
And by the end of the meet, Rosen had surpassed another personal best, posting a 39.125 in the all-around competition - second all-time at Penn. Yet it was not enough for the ECAC all-around title, as Towson's Annukka Almenoksa edged Rosen by a mere 0.025 to claim first.
Still, Rosen was pleased.
"I had a really great meet," she said. "It was really exciting because I wanted to win an ECAC title, especially because Penn hadn't won one since 2001."
Meanwhile, senior captain Kimberly Chin submitted a strong finish to her Penn career as she tied her season-best on the uneven bars with a 9.775, good enough for fourth place in the event. Chin also tied for ninth on the beam with Rosen, as both tallied 9.725.
Missing from action was Chin's co-captain, Stephanie Ortiz, who had injured her knee against Rhode Island.
In a final bright spot for Penn, the Quakers' rising freshman contributor Elise Bowe did not disappoint. Competing on the beam, Bowe scored a personal best of 9.625 in her first ECAC Championship.
But in the end, those efforts still left Penn looking up at the five teams ahead of them.
Rosen remained content.
"It was a miracle that we were able to finish as strong as we did," she said. "We had people getting injured throughout the meets, and it was really stressful, but we didn't let it bring us down at all."
