In its final home meet of the season, the gymnastics team finished second Sunday behind the University of Pennsylvania. The Quakers claimed the team victory, scoring a total of 190.250 points, with the Bears tallying 187.925 points. The Southern Connecticut State University Owls recorded 185.575 points for third place.
Alicia Sacramone '10 led Brown with the all-around title, breaking three school records on the day. Jennifer Sobuta '09 and Alanna Kwoka '10 tied for third in the all-around competition.
For the Bears, the biggest challenge of the meet was overcoming their lack of depth. Still, Head Coach Sara Carver-Milne said she was pleased with her team's effort, particularly against the Quakers.
"Penn has a lot of depth," she said. "We don't have 20 people on our team like most teams. ... So our girls have to compete in every event every week. I'm really proud of our team. It's just so tough on them to overcome the issue of depth."
Brown had several highlights on the afternoon, notably Sacramone's performances. The freshman was the meet's standout performer, claiming first in every event, including a victory in the all-around with 39.425 points, which set a new school record as well as a personal best performance. She also established new school records on the vault and floor exercise, scoring 9.900 and 9.925 respectively.
She rounded out her stellar day with solid victories on the uneven bars, recording a 9.850, and the balance beam, posting a 9.750.
In addition to Sacramone's record-breaking performance, the team received strong efforts from several other team members. Kwoka recorded a personal best in the all-around at 37.600 points. She also scored a 9.625 on the floor, a 9.350 on the bars and a 9.450 on the vault.
"I've just been training really hard, so it's nice that it's finally coming together," Kwoka said of her performances.
Sobuta also had a solid day, posting a 9.600 on the floor, a 9.300 on the beam and a 9.425 on vault.
Other notable performances included Izzy Kirkham-Lewitt '10 on the floor - she finished third with 9.650.
As a team, the Bears were strongest in the floor event, where they defeated both Penn and Southern Connecticut. Brown finished with a total of 48.150 points on floor, with Penn posting 48.050 points and Southern Connecticut tallying 46.875 points. The Bears recorded no lower than a 9.350 in the event among all of its scorers. In its other events, Brown performed consistently across the board, recording team scores of 46.850 on the bars, 46.500 on the beam and 46.425 on the vault.
Sacramone attributed the team's strong showing to its hard work in practice.
"We've been working really hard on body position and technique, so I think that really helped us today," she said.
Overall, Carver-Milne thought the meet was a success.
"Today went great. This was the best meet of our season. We put up a high score, yet we still had a couple falls, so we can definitely improve," she said. "We had some mistakes on beam and bars, and that's what hurt us."
The meet marked the final time the Bears will compete at the Pizzitola Center this season. In most cases, the competition would have served as Senior Day, but the team has no seniors on its roster, so such a celebration was unnecessary.
"It was kind of nice (not to have any seniors) because instead of focusing on a few individuals, we focused more on our team," Carver-Milne said. "We know we'll be stronger next year. It's such a tight-knit team in and out of the gym."
The Bears head to Cornell Saturday for the ECAC Championships, where they will compete against some of the strongest teams on the East Coast.
- with additional reporting by Peter Cipparone
