Gymnastics Keeps Up Winning Ways, Beats Visiting Brockport

The gymnastics team is a mere two competitions into its 2009 campaign, and already it has set two new team records. The Red followed up its highest-ever opening meet score with its highest-ever second meet of the season score, a 190.825. The Red battled Brockport, who proved to be stingy competition, in the Teagle Hall gymnasium Saturday afternoon before eventually coming away with the victory.
“We’re really happy,” said sophomore Kerri Lavallee. “Normally our second meet of the year doesn’t go so well, but that wasn’t the case this time.”[img_assist|nid=34442|title=The next Shawn Johnson?|desc=Maddie Pearsall won the all-around on Saturday with a score of 37.675.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
Sometimes the comfort of competing at home does not give the Red the necessary focus to compete at its highest level. This time, however, that was not the case.
“There always seems to be a different type of mentality when we’re competing in our own workout gym,” said sophomore Irene Leung, who is also a member of The Sun’s design staff. “A lot of the time it’s harder to mentally get into the meet because we’re so used to practicing where the attitude is more relaxed. This meet was full of energy.”
The Red’s best team performance was in the bars and beam events, where it posted the highest score in all of the ECAC. Junior Molly Parker led the way with a 9.675 as the Red swept the entire event.
Despite such an impressive start to the season thus far, the Red is not letting up on its drive to improve. With the season barely underway, there remains plenty of room for improvement.
“We’re looking to focus on improving our landings,” said senior co-captain Stacy Ohara. “We need to work on sticking everything and perfecting our form, in addition to simply building up our confidence.”
After two weeks of competition, the Red currently sits atop the ECAC, a position it does not plan on relinquishing anytime soon. With its confidence riding high, the Red is clearly excited about the possibilities that its season holds.
“We know we still have a lot of work ahead of us,” Leung said. “But this is the best start to a season our team has had in a long time, and because we’re doing so well everyone is motivated to work even that much harder so we can finish that much stronger. In terms of team goals, it’s pretty exciting because judging by where we are right now, we know winning the ECAC is not too far-fetched.”
“We’re very confident right now,” added Ohara. “So far we’ve had a record-breaking season while also posting higher scores than our rivals; we’re really excited to work hard and get better and better each week.”