Following last weekend’s narrow victory over Yale in New Haven, Penn gymnastics returns to the Palestra to host Southeast Missouri State in the team's home opener on Friday night. The Quakers started off the season with some struggles at the Lindsey Ferris Invitational, and are looking to find their stride going into February and the all-important Ivy Classic.
After back injuries during her sophomore year forced senior Emily Shugan to end her career as a gymnast, she has since leaped into a new role on the team: student assistant coach.
Though most programs would hesitate to refer to a two-season title hiatus as a drought, the mentality for Penn gymnastics is clear. It’s “championship-or-bust time” for the Red and Blue, and the 2018 squad is more than ready to do so.
In this week's edition of Is Stat So?, more school and pool records fall, and Penn men's squash runs up against an opponent it cannot handle.
That’s what Penn gymnastics was able to pull off in its razor-thin win over Yale on Saturday. Confidence in their own abilities was all it took for the Quakers to gut out a 191.900 to 191.475 victory.
Call them the "Swaggy Six," or the "Super Sophs", or the "Bars Bunch"; no matter the alias, Penn gymnastics will be tough to beat this year due to a record-breaking crop of sophomores on the bars.
Call them the "Swaggy Six," or the "Super Sophs", or the "Bars Bunch"; no matter the alias, Penn gymnastics will be tough to beat this year due to a record-breaking crop of sophomores on the bars.
After back injuries during her sophomore year forced senior Emily Shugan to end her career as a gymnast, she has since leaped into a new role on the team: student assistant coach.
Though most programs would hesitate to refer to a two-season title hiatus as a drought, the mentality for Penn gymnastics is clear. It’s “championship-or-bust time” for the Red and Blue, and the 2018 squad is more than ready to do so.
It is clear that if the team is to reach its full potential and win the Ivy or ECAC Championship, a significant part of the credit should go to the two returning co-captains, and the attitude and togetherness they bring to the program.
After finishing last out of four teams in its first meet of the season, the Lindsey Ferris Invitational, with a relatively low score of 190.375, Penn gymnastics (1-2, 0-1 Ivy) hopes to bounce back this upcoming weekend as it travels to New Haven to take on Yale, both teams' first one-on-one Ivy League matchup in 2018.
A year after opening the 2017 season with an impressive second-place finish at the Lindsey Ferris Invitational, Penn gymnastics struggled to match that effort this time around, finishing in last place with a score of 190.375.
To open the season, the gymnastics team is traveling to Washington, D.C. on Saturday, where the Quakers will face Cornell and George Washington in the Lindsey Ferris Invitational. Cornell is an Ivy rival and GW is a top-25 ranked team, but for team captain Kyra Levi, it doesn’t matter who the Quakers are up against.
In order to prepare for the tough competition they’ll face later this season, the Quakers keep up a high level of intensity and passion, even in the preseason.
Bars featured a three-way tie between a trio of Quakers.
The weekend was special for the Quakers, having two of the three finalists, Swirbalus and Graham, fourth on floor and sixth on beam respectively, place in the finals. Nonetheless, for Kyra Levi, it was still one of the most memorable parts of the weekend for her to see her teammates rise to the top.
This weekend, 12 members of the team will travel to Seattle, Wash., to compete in the USAG Women’s Collegiate Championships. And despite the young team’s underwhelming sixth-place showing at last month’s ECAC Championships, individual morale is high.
Another season has come and gone for Penn gymnastics. The Red and Blue wrapped up the year yesterday with a sixth-place finish up in Providence at the Eastern College Athletic Conference Championships.
This Saturday, the Red and Blue will travel to Providence, R.I. to compete against Brown, Cornell, Temple, William and Mary, and Yale. The squad is looking for a big finish in order to qualify for USA Gymnastics Collegiate Nationals in Seattle, Washington on April 7th.
It was almost the comeback of the century. In last place after the first rotation of the Ivy Classic, Penn gymnastics embarked on a furious rally to catch up to its conference foes, but the Quakers ultimately came up just short of their first league title since 2015, taking second place behind repeat champion Cornell by a mere 0.400-point margin.
Four Ivy League schools, four different events, one trophy. Classic. Penn gymnastics will travel to New Haven, Connecticut this weekend to take on Yale, Brown and Cornell in the conference’s decisive meet.
This weekend, a number of winter sports teams wrap up their seasons with Ivy League championships. While women's swimming and men's squash finished up last week, their opposite-gender counterparts along with gymnastics and indoor track and field all compete this weekend for postseason glory.
The Quakers ended the meet with their second best score of the year at 193.425, showing some of their best performances so far this season. They came away with a victory against ECAC rival William and Mary, but Kentucky took home first place.
Solutions by The State News
