Beaming with confidence, Penn finishes strong

Penn Gymnastics had a dynamite landing in their final home meet of the season, outscoring West Chester in every event yesterday.

The Red and Blue trounced the Golden Rams, finishing with a score of 189.950, while West Chester ended with a score of 182.300.

For the Quakers, the key to their meets continues to be consistency. The gymnasts have been performing the same routines all season, so every meet is an opportunity to refine and clean up their performances.

Both captains are confident in the abilities of their teammates.

“We have all the big things, now it’s just the little details,” co-captain Jenny Hurst said.

The senior explained that the Quakers needed to work on “sticking the landings [and] showing it off a little more.”

Fellow co-captain Lucy la Cour added “connections on beams and floor [and] leaps and jumps” to the list of areas for improvement.

Yesterday’s meet was bittersweet for the senior captains, who competed in Hutchinson Gymnasium for the last time.

Dominating West Chester was the particularly sweet part, and the Red and Blue finally had a chance to show off their skills.

“We knew that we could do it but we hadn’t shown everybody else that we could, and now we have,” Hurst said.

Although the fan turnout wasn’t huge, “anytime you compete at home, there’s always that edge,” coach John Ceralde said. “You’re comfortable with your surroundings, your friends, family and alum are here, and it does make a big difference to have that support.”

According to Ceralde, the “high point [of the meet] was beam. The girls went six for six.”

Even the lowest-scoring Quaker outdid the best West Chester gymnast on beam.

For Hurst and la Cour, two performances stood out.

“I was really proud of [freshman] Megan Milavec,” Hurst said. “She did a lot better on beam, especially this weekend, and she looked like she was having a lot of fun.”

Hurst also praised freshman Kristen Strausbaugh for her four-for-four performance.

“She’s been a rock for this team all season,” Hurst said. “She’s very consistent.”

Strausbaugh won the all-around with a score of 38.475, and Milavec won beam with a score of 9.800.

The meet was also a confidence booster for the team as it looks towards its next meet versus Ivy League Classic champ Cornell, as well as the Eastern College Athletic Conference championships at the end of the month.

For their final home meet, the gymnasts supported the fight against breast cancer by wearing pink leotards and donating proceeds from the meet towards the cause.

The meet was originally scheduled for last month, but had to be pushed back due to the snow storm.

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