Gymnastics Remains Undefeated

The gymnastics team is still undefeated after pulling out a gutsy 188.025-178.550 victory over local rival Cortland this past weekend. Members of the Red captured first place in all four individual events, and sophomore Maddie Pearsall won the all-around with a score of 37.725.
Despite the victory, the level of performance was below what the Red has become accustomed to over the course of its young season.
[img_assist|nid=34678|title=Balancing act|desc=Sophomore Maddie Pearsall won the all-around on Jan. 31.|link=node|align=left|width=|height=0]
“In general we were not where we wanted to be during the meet,” Pearsall said. “So far we’ve had a really great start to the season. This weekend we had more mistakes than we wanted to.”
The Red struggled early on, but maintained its composure to finish strong.
“We were a little disappointed with our performance,” said sophomore Kerri Lavallee. “We had been doing better and better each meet, but despite a rough start to our meet our team pulled together to finish the final two events pretty well.”
It is clear that the Red is holding itself to an exceptionally high standard this season after breaking records in its opening two meets. The team is channeling any frustrations from its less-than-stellar performance into working hard in practice and perfecting its routines.
“We’re really looking to focus on hitting our routines when the pressure is on,” Pearsall said. “It’s really important that we stay focused throughout the meet.”
The gymnastics coaching staff has been reiterating the importance of performing well under pressure and keeping calm even when things don’t go as planned.
“Our coaches have most stressed our landings and the importance of finishing everything with confidence,” Pearsall said. “Whether it went the way you wanted to or not.”
This coming weekend the squad will travel to Penn State to compete in a quadrangular against Penn, William & Mary and Penn State. It will be the Red’s first competition against an Ancient Eight rival this season.
“We’re still confident,” said Pearsall. “We’ve had a really great start to our season, we’re not going to let last weekend change that. We’re going to go out and work really hard in practice this week, as always. And of course we’re all really excited for our first Ivy League opponent.”­­