Gymnastics heads to meet with high hopes

One more meet. After a season plagued by injuries, the Penn gymnastics team will try to pull it all together for its final meet of the year at the ECAC Championships tomorrow in Ithaca, N.Y. In last year's tournament at the Palestra, the fourth-seeded Quakers finished second out of seven teams, as James Madison took the overall title. In that meet, Penn established new school, Ivy League and ECAC records on the balance beam with a 49.125. Quakers junior Lauren Hittner, a Daily Pennsylvanian photographer, was the all-around champion with a 38.600. The competition for this year's meet looks to be just as solid. James Madison, William and Mary and Yale all have Regional qualifier scores over 190, with Penn slightly below that mark. The tournament seedings are based on these scores. "This meet in 2001 has the most parity of any meet that I've been involved in," Penn coach Tom Kovic said. This weekend's meet is the final team competition of the season, and for the three senior captains -- Sarah Bruscia, Jenn Capasso and Kelly Haberer -- the last of their Penn careers. With a title on the line as well, the Quakers know the stakes are much higher here than at any other meet. "It's definitely the culmination of the season," Bruscia said. "We're looking forward to hitting routines and winning." Kovic's attitude echoes that of his gymnasts. "Our goal is to win the meet, no doubt about it," the Penn head man said. "We're going to have our strongest team in there on Saturday, and our goal is to go in and win it all." Add to the pure motivation of a big-time meet the fact that the Quakers will get a healthy squad and another shot at Yale, and you have the makings of a very competitive tournament. "I think that's our No. 1 goal right now -- to go in there at ECACs and beat Yale," Haberer said. "It gives everyone determination and a reason to work harder." This will mark the third time that Penn and Yale have squared off this season, but the first on a neutral floor. The Elis beat Penn at the Palestra back on January 27. And a month ago at the Ivy Championships, the injury-hampered Quakers finished in second place behind host Yale. "We're hoping to get them back [at ECACs]," Haberer said. "We'll have a couple of people back." The Quakers appear to finally be getting healthy, and just at the right time. Freshmen Tricia Chan and Christy Green are slowly working their way back into Penn's rotation. Chan will be competing on the uneven bars tomorrow, while Green will be on the vault and the bars. "[With Chan and Green back], we will have three scores that we did not have," Kovic said. "Considering the fact that we've had people out for a majority of the season, we're at full strength now." Foremost on their minds, though, is to stay healthy for their final meet of the season. "We want to hit all our rotations and not have any falls or injuries," Green said.

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