There was another team celebrating a win on Broad Street this past weekend.
Penn gymnastics took a short road trip to Broad Street on Feb. 8 to McGonigle Hall for a meet against Fisk University and Philadelphia rival Temple, and the Quakers took home another tri-meet win that was filled with career-bests and standout performances from juniors Marissa Lassiter and Skyelar Kerico.
Bars
Junior Carly Oniki started the meet with a bang — executing a nearly flawless routine that ended with a stick which surprisingly earned a 9.700. Lassiter also stuck her landing and added upon Oniki's performance with a 9.700. Sophomore Sophia Paris also joined the stick club with a 9.825 — the same score as senior Zara Gazdak. Kerico demonstrated complete control over the apparatus and rounded out the rotation with a stick as well.
Knowing the quality of the routine displayed, everyone held their breath as they waited for the score, and cheers rang out when the score was posted: 9.950. This was Kerico’s career-best bars score and the second-best in program history — only 0.025 behind the top score set in 2001.
“Doing enough repetitions [where] I feel comfortable enough in practice and in competition,” said Kerico about what led to this success. “We’ve been having a lot of great practices as a team, but executing it in the meet is something we’re all trying to work on.”
In all, Penn earned a team score of 49.075, the highest of the season for the bars, with Temple in second (48.650) and Fisk in third (47.975).
Beam
The momentum of the meet was halted slightly with a fall and some stumbles on the beam. Luckily, the tides started to turn as sophomore Jordan Barrow, junior Alisha Werlen, and freshman Mimi Fletcher all stuck their landings — resulting in a 9.800, 9.775, and 9.850 respectively. Junior Samantha Wu anchored for the Quakers and demonstrated great consistency as she looked strong every time she landed back on the beam after a skill — a talent exemplified in successful dismount. She contributed the best score of the rotation, 9.875, to the team total of 48.675. Temple was slightly ahead of the Red and Blue in this rotation with a 48.825. Fisk led with a score of 49.000.
Floor
Senior Emma Davies got the crowd and athletes on the floor, even those of rival teams, moving with her floor routine that included “Cotton Eyed Joe.” Lassiter had the same effect during her routine and earned a 9.775. Kerico was close behind her fellow junior with a 9.750. Penn earned a 48.550 on the floor — an event that is typically a strong suit for the team. Temple followed with a 48.475 while Fisk had the lowest score of 48.350.
Vault
Freshmen Sienna Zuccaro and Manama Fofana both executed strong performances on vault with scores of 9.625 and 9.800. Kerico wowed once again with her Yurchenko 1.5 — tying with Fofana for a 9.800. Barrow rounded out the rotation and the meet with a 9.750, leaving the team with a score of 48.675, a tie with their beam score.
Penn won the meet with a 194.975, with Temple close behind with a 194.450. While Fisk may have taken last with a 193.650, they celebrated nonetheless as they topped last week’s score by over two points.
“We’ve been doing really well supporting each other and just having camaraderie and good energy … We’re doing great in practice and our motto has been ‘just average,’ average day just be average … just average Joe's right now,” said Kerico.
Once again, the Red and Blue demonstrate great momentum for what has already been an exciting season. Penn will head up to New Haven on Feb. 15 to compete against Southern Connecticut State.
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