Temple victimizes Gymnastics for fourth time

The Quakers hit most of their routines and improved onThe Quakers hit most of their routines and improved onrecent poor performances, but the Owls were sharp, too Four times the Penn gymnastics team has tried. And four times it has failed. In four attempts at beating cross-city rival Temple, the Quakers have come up empty. But unlike past failures, it was not slips and falls that cost the team a win. Instead, it was the case of a strong Penn performance getting shown up by an even stronger Owls show. The Quakers gave their best overall effort of the season last night, scoring a season high 181.975 points. Unfortunately, that was not enough to overcome the strong Temple showing, which included a total of 185.25 points. Penn (4-5) has already faced the Owls three previous times this season, including last weekend. At the George Washington Invitational earlier this season, Temple finished sixth, while the Quakers finished seventh in the seven-team field. Last weekend, at the Towson State Invitational, Temple (8-13) finished fifth and Penn finished sixth out of the six teams. At Hutchinson Gymnasium last night, Penn again failed to beat the Owls. After competition had concluded on the vault and uneven bars, Penn was trailing Temple by a mere 1.775 points. Penn's third event was the balance beam, which has been a weak spot for the team all season. Once again, minor errors were committed as two Quakers fell of the beam. Senior Shelly Waldman provided a bright spot for Penn on the beam. After performing a difficult routine almost flawlessly on the four-inch wide bar, she scored an impressive 9.45. But after three events, Temple's lead had grown to 3.0 points. The last event for Penn was the floor exercises, while Temple finished on the balance beam. Although the Quakers performed energetically with the hope of closing the scoring gap, the Owls were just too strong. Ultimately, the Quakers finished 3.275 points behind Temple. Despite the loss, Penn's gymnasts were still pleased with their efforts. "We broke the 180-point mark," Quakers sophomore Kathleen Gunn said. Another highlight for Penn was sophomore Carin Kaplan competing in all of the events for the first time this season. Kaplan joined Gunn and freshmen Molly Sullivan and Suzi Marin as the only Quakers who compete in all four events. "The team seemed more together," Gunn said. "We cheered for each other constantly." "This was the best meet of the season because we hit the most routines tonight," Penn junior captain Lori Taylor added.

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