Miscues leave Gymnastics with fourth-place finish

The Penn women's gymnastics team fell victim to its own falls on Sunday in the George Washington Invitational on Sunday. The Quakers fell 10 times on the day, which cost them five points off their team score and a chance at a higher placing. Penn finished fourth with a score of 186.00, behind North Carolina State (192.350), host George Washington University (191.900) and William and Mary (188.875). Temple, Cornell and Radford rounded out the rest of the field. The fourth-place finish was a disappointment for the Quakers, who were coming off a record-breaking victory over Cornell in their season opener. One silver lining for the Quakers was the performance of freshman Anna Wilson, who finished second in the vault (9.700), Penn's highest single finish in the meet. Wilson also finished ninth in the all-around score (37.375), while senior tri-captain Jenn Capasso took home seventh place with a score of 37.425. "Competing at this level is different from club gymnastics because it is a team sport," Wilson said of her new experience at the collegiate level. "Doing well individually is not half as important as doing good as a team." The Quakers credit their disappointing finish to a few physical ailments. "We have several injuries right now and some illnesses that we are dealing with," Capasso said. "I think that the team did a good job of dealing with the fact that we weren't having a great performance and staying positive and trying to do the best we could." Now Penn must move beyond last weekend's meet and look ahead to the future. With a number of injuries, the Red and Blue must count on both the leadership of the upperclassmen and the freshmen's willingness to perform at a higher level. "I think the key is to stay calm and stay positive," Capasso said of her role as leader on the team. "Especially at big invitational meets it's easy to get nervous and anxious and that can throw off your performance. I try to lead by example.... If I can stay relaxed and just do my best for the team I hope that helps others on the team to do the same." "Since they do have experience with college gymnastics, they know what to say to help us when we aren't doing as well as we can," Wilson said of Penn's upperclassmen leadership. Another positive the Quakers can take away from this weekend's meet is the fact that the Red and Blue competed well against George Washington and N.C. State -- squads that are both ranked among the top 15 nationally. Penn will return to Hutchinson Gymnasium on Saturday to face Ivy League foe Yale.

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