With the 2009-10 season coming to a close, the gymnastics team is putting the finishing touches on a year that began at a frigid University of Maryland in January and will culminate in the Texas heat on April 15. In between, the Red has endured the ups and downs characteristic of any athletic season, from its victory at the Ivy Classic to its disappointing fourth-place showing at Penn State University. Unfortunately, the Red’s last competitions before Nationals yielded mediocre results; Cornell is coming off less-than-stellar performances at home against Penn and at Temple’s ECAC championships, with a narrow victory over the Quakers and a fourth-place showing at Temple.   

Despite beating Penn soundly at the Ivy Classic in February, the Red barely squeaked by the Quakers at the Senior Day dual meet against Penn on March 20. Cornell was victorious by a score of 190.500 to 190.375. In its victory, the Red dominated the vault, with junior Kerri Lavallee leading the way. Lavallee finished with the meet’s highest score –– 9.800, while junior Maddie Pearsall finished second at 9.750. In floor, senior Britney Howse led the Red, posting a 9.825. However, despite strong performances in the floor and vault, the Red fell to the Quakers in bars. Penn, spurred by freshman Dana Bonincontri, defeated Cornell, 47.350 to 46.725. Still, the Red managed to pull out the victory, if only by .125 points.   It’s all about the rebound: Freshman Sarah Hein recovered from a shaky outing on bars to post quality scores in both floor and vault. - By: Emily Burke

 “At Penn we had a little bit of trouble, but our team really pulled it together and we still won,” Lavallee said. 

 The following weekend, the Red finished fourth at the ECAC championships, beating Penn, Brown and Yale, but losing to Towson, William and Mary and Temple. Cornell finished with a final team score of 190.300. In the vault, junior Emily Santoro and Lavallee tied for second place with a 9.800 apiece.  Sophomore Melanie Stanbridge led the Red in the beam, finishing fifth with a 9.650. Howse finished highest for the Red in the floor event, with a 9.725.    

“At the ECAC’s, we had some problems on the bars … but we still finished fourth above the other Ivies. Although we didn’t do as well as we had hoped, we still had a respectable performance,” Lavallee said. 

With Nationals looming, the Red will look back at its stronger meets of the year for guidance, in hopes of replicating its successes in Texas.

“We have Nationals in two-and-a-half weeks. We’re going to try to keep doing what we’ve been doing throughout the season because we’ve had a couple really good meets,” Lavallee said. “We’re going to try and get our spirits to where they were and have everybody hitting, which we can do.” 

Despite rather lackluster performances in bars and beam against Penn, the Red do not expect one event to define the team’s performance at Nationals; that is, Cornell expects each event to contribute to the Red’s overall point total equally. 

“All of our events are usually solid … we’re a very ‘overall’ team,” Lavallee said. “Once in a while, people might flip up, but we’re a strong team.”