Lack of balance
Lady Lions fall four times on beam, lose to Minnesota

By GEOFFREY MOSHER
Collegian Sports Writer

Minnesota Women's Gymnastics Coach Jim Stephenson said last week it would be a unique situation if the Golden Gophers or the Fighting Illini could beat the Lady Lions. He was half correct.

No. 20 Minnesota (9-3, 3-1 Big Ten) posted a school-record final score in upsetting No. 7 Penn State (9-3, 3-1) and Illinois (3-6, 1-5) 193.675-192.5-190.275, respectively. Minnesota broke its old record of 191.65 set Feb. 19, 1994, against Utah.

"It was definitely the meet of their life," Penn State Coach Steve Shephard said. "They had a great meet. We had a not so great meet."

The meet was close between Penn State and Minnesota, going into the last event, where Penn State was competing on balance beam and Minnesota on floor. Penn State had excelled on beam in prior meets, but not on Saturday.

"We're not yet at full potential," senior tri-captain Tracy Kerner said. "We haven't had the great meet where everything has gone right."

The Lady Lions recorded four falls on beam. Low scores were posted from freshman all-arounder Joanna Knox (8.65), freshman Liz Agnew (9.07) and senior tri-captain Kerry Slattery (9.075).

While the team is not quite sure why it struggled on its last event, Shephard said it could have been pressure and lack of focus.

"The pressure might have gotten to them," he said. "They were looking over their shoulders and not focusing on the job that they had to do."

Slattery had other ideas. She said it was just one of those nights that Penn State did not hit clean routines.

"We didn't hit anything perfect," she said. "When we got to the beam, we didn't do our job."

Although poor performances cost Penn State the match, the gymnasts are not worried about the future. Despite the loss, the Lady Lions believe they performed well.

"We never gave up," Kerner said. "We fought to the fullest."