Are the Quakers undefeated or unbeatable?
The No. 36 Quakers traveled north to New Haven, Conn. last Saturday to compete against conference rivals Yale, Brown, and Cornell in the annual Ivy Classic. Penn gymnastics walked away with the title for the third year in a row, putting them on track to conquer the rest of the season and win the Gymnastics East Conference Championships again.
“Winning a third straight Ivy championship really shows how our program has built sustained excellence over my time on the team,” says senior Alyssa Rosen. “Every year the lineup changes and new athletes step into different roles, but what’s stayed constant is our culture and our commitment to each other.”
Floor
Kicking off the meet, sophomore Mimi Fletcher and senior Alyssa Rosen both exhibited seamless tumbling with grounded landings and beautiful positions in the air. Sophomore Maggie Murphy led off her routine with a double full, which earned her extra difficulty points and contributed to her final score of 9.775.
Senior Marissa Lassiter lured in the crowd and judges with extreme power and received a 9.800. Sophomore Manama Fofana, who has earned three consecutive GEC Gymnast of the Week awards in a row, topped the scoreboard for the Quakers with a 9.875 to win the event. Altogether, Penn had a total team score of 48.925, putting them in first by more than a tenth.
Vault
Lassiter got the momentum going for the Quakers in their second rotation with a stuck landing. Freshman Ananya Patanaku increased her difficulty with a half twist onto the vault table, followed by a back pike off of it. That extra bump helped her achieve a 9.775 final score. Fofana built off her strong floor performance with a 9.800 on the second rotation.
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Junior Jordan Barrow anchored the lineup and wrapped up the rotation with the highest score for the team, a 9.825, good for the Ivy League vault title. Penn walked away from the vault with a 48.875, which tied with Yale for first place.
Bars
Sophomore Skylar Goodstadt led off the lineup with a strong 9.775 point performance, which two of her teammates matched during the rotation. Goodstadt nearly stuck her landing, taking only a small hop. Freshman Ruth Whaley followed with another 9.775 while keeping her feet together and maintaining clean lines in the air. Barrow was the third Quaker to earn a 9.775, demonstrating seamless transitions between the high and low bars.
Sophomore Luci Toczylowski earned a 9.850 through solid releases and a nearly stuck landing, which is the highest individual bars score of the season and a new personal record for her. Toczylowski also walked away with the Ivy League bars title.
Finishing with a 48.875 team score, the Quakers fell a quarter of a point behind Yale this rotation.
Beam
Whaley led off the event with a 9.825, kickstarting a series of great scores for the Red and Blue. Murphy, Fofana, and Fletcher all earned a 9.800. Murphy displayed a gorgeous leap series with an air of confidence. Fofana remained calm throughout her routine, not letting the nerves of a previous fall shake her.
Barrow stunned with a career high of 9.900, good for third-best in program history and the Ivy League crown. The Quakers evidently saved the best for last, scoring 49.125 on their final rotation to win the Ivy Classic.
Penn took home the title with a 195.800, nearly three-tenths of a point ahead of second-place Yale, and several points ahead of third-place Cornell and fourth-place Brown. This mark also ties the highest Ivy Classic score in program history, set in 2024 at the Palestra.
“The fact that we’ve been able to adapt each year and perform at a championship level speaks to how much this team has grown and how strong our foundation is,” Rosen says.
Fans can catch the Quakers back in Philadelphia next Thursday, March 5, at Temple in a quad meet against Maryland and Towson.
