A pessimist might call it growing pains, but it is a necessary, valuable experience for this corps of talented, but young tumblers.
The squad chalked up fourth place in a quad meet with Alabama, Rutgers and host Penn State. Alabama edged out the Nittany Lions for the top spot by just over one point, but held the advantage on all events: vault, uneven bars, balance beam and floor exercise.
The ‘Tide also produced the best individual competitor, Andrea Pickens who posted bests on the vault and floor exercise.
Freshman Denise Hurd turned in one of Cornell’s best effort, earning 14th place in the vault (9.450) and the floor exercise (9.550). The vaulting was dominated by Alabama, who claimed four of the top five spots in the event. Penn State’s Katie Rowland occupied the third place position.
The highest the Red placed in any one event was 13th, courtesy of sophomore Shannon Weiman’s balance beam routine, which was assessed a 9.625.. Lissy Smith of Alabama shared the top slot with Rowland. The pair recorded scores of 9.925.
Another bright spot for the tumblers came from Debbie George, who garnered 16th place with her showing on the uneven bars. Her 9.300 was .650 short of the event’s co-winners Pickens and teammate Natalie Barrington. The Nittany Lions challenged Alabama’s supremacy on the bars with strong performances from Maria Taylor (9.925) and Rowland (9.900).
Rowland collected second place all-around honors with a 39.575.
Rutgers, like the Red did not manage a top five finish in any of the events.
The tumbles concluded their season Saturday with a six place finish in a field of seven at the ECAC championships held on East Hill.
The Red finished just under five points short of top-flight Yale. It was the first time in the program’s history that the Bulldogs had won the conference title.
Freshman Stephanie Daehler led the Red with a third place outing in floor exercise. It was the best individual effort for Cornell. She also had the highest finish for the hosts in the all-around with a score of 37.475.
The tournament’s top performer was Anna Wilson of Pennsylvania who won the all-around title. She also garnered bests on the floor exercise, with a solid 9.975 effort and split the top spot on the uneven bars.
Second place William and Mary also put forth convincing individual showings. Katy Dendramis shared first prize with Wilson on the uneven bars, and Jamie Weinfeldt earned bragging rights on the balance beam.
Daehler was the only Cornellian to place in the top six in an individual event.
Archived article by Gary Schueller