With impressive performances, particularly by newcomers, at the Penn gymnastics Red and Blue Intrasquad meet on Saturday, the Quakers are gearing up defend their GEC three-peat this season.
Penn gymnastics returned to the Palestra this Saturday for its annual intrasquad meet. A common event in NCAA gymnastics, it gives gymnasts the opportunity to simulate competing before beginning the season and gives the public a preview for what to expect from the team. The meet functions as a normal meet, except that the 23 gymnasts are split into two teams — the Red team and the Blue team to compete against each other for practice. Here’s how the team was divided up:
The Blue team started on the vault while the Red team started on beam.
While there were a couple of wobbles in this beam rotation, beam has typically been a strong event for the Quakers, but it's easily impacted by anxiety. Freshmen Sienna Zuccaro and Skylar Goodstadt looked particularly strong amid their older teammates who struggled to stay on the beam at times, scoring 9.525 and 9.600 respectively. The Blue team’s vault rotation was particularly strong, with all of their athletes scoring between 9.500 and 9.800. Sophomore Jordan Barrow earned the highest score with a nearly flawless execution and stuck landing.
The teams then switched events for the next rotation.
The Red team had a slightly weaker performance on vault, but managed to put up pretty comparable scores with the range spanning from 9.45 to 9.75. Freshman Manama Fofana gave a performance that suggests she will be a strong member of regular season meet lineups for the event.
The Blue team also struggled with staying on the beam, but managed to pull off two scores that topped its opponent. Both junior Skyelar Kerico and freshman Mimi Fletcher earned a 9.700 with beautifully stuck landings. Kerico is a consistent member of the vault lineup, and it is looking like she will be taking her intrasquad teammate with her to join that roster.
Having finished beam and vault, the athletes then moved to floor and bars.
The Red team began its floor rotation with three new faces in the event. Junior Alyssa Rosen, senior Marigold Garrett, and sophomore Reganne Cheang did not compete in the floor last year, but they may be vying to fill empty spots left by graduated team members as they all put up some of the best scores for their team with scores of 9.600, 9.600, and 9.550 respectively. Fofana wowed the crowd with a performance to hits by Michael Jackson, and junior Marissa Lassiter brought back her crowd-favorite routine with an impressive performance. Senior Zara Gazdak had the best performance for the team with a score of 9.650.
Bars was a clear adversary for the Blue team. Half of its competitors fell off the apparatus — something that is out of the ordinary for the Quakers. Barrow stunned again with a score of 9.725, and junior Alisha Werlen was able to brush off the nerves and stick a clean landing.
To wrap up, the Red team took to the bars, and the Blue team ended on floor.
The Red team had a stronger performance than its competitors, with only one fall. The top five scores, which is how many count in a typical meet, are ones that would be usually expected for the team at a regular season meet, ranging from 9.500 to 9.700.
The Blue team brought the personality to the floor. Werlen’s music choices include upbeat hits such as Britney Spears’s “Oops I Did it Again,” and senior Emma Davies paid homage to her home state of Georgia with a country remix. Fletcher anchored the event and earned the highest score of the event with a score of 9.750.
In all, this meet displayed two main takeaways. Firstly, there are still early-season nerves for many of the gymnasts that the Red and Blue faithful can only hope will decrease after this practice run, and the Quakers know they have something to prove.
With three consecutive GEC championships under their belt, the Quakers will be the universal league rival, and they are prepared to prove why they deserve those wins. Newcomers put up impressive scores, and many returning members are working on improving their skills or attempting more difficult ones. Regardless of performances this weekend, the team has nearly a month to continue to improve before their season opener Jan. 5th at Penn State.
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