Low hopes
Gymwomen expect injury, illness to spoil competition

By GEOFFREY MOSHER
Collegian sports Writer

The Lady Lion gymnastics team does not plan to win. In fact, senior tri-captain Tracy Kerner said it is not even focused on its next meet.

No. 9 Penn State (12-8) will take on No. 4 Michigan (15-2), North Carolina State (15-4) and Massachusetts (10-8) at 7:30 p.m. tomorrow in Ann Arbor, Mich. The Lady Lions will be without junior Bridget Foley and senior tri-captain Kerry Slattery, an all-around competitor.

Foley tore her anterior cruciate ligament (knee) when she fell off the uneven bars in a meet at Georgia last Sunday, and Slattery re-sprained the same ankle that kept her out in the beginning of the season.

Coach Steve Shephard said the team will compete with only four gymnasts on bars and record two scores of 0.0 because of a lack of healthy gymnasts to fill the spots.

"We don't have anybody in those particular events," he said."Liz (Agnew) is still recovering from mononucleosis, (Carey) Hoyt is not ready. Between sickness and injury, we're in a bad situation."

Kerner said the team is looking ahead at getting healthy instead of trying to beat Michigan.

"Our main focus is definitely regionals and nationals," Kerner said.

Michigan is home to one of the top gymnasts in the country, Beth Wymer. The senior is the defending national bars champion and a second team All-American on vault and in the all-around competition.

"She's one of the top kids in the country," Shephard said. "If not the best."

So Wymer and the Wolverines will take on the Lady Lions' bruised lineup. Foley will have surgery in April and will be out the rest of the season.

"Me being out doesn't change anything," she said. "They just have to do what they have to do."

Shephard said the team just was not lucky over spring break.

"The fickle finger of fate did not smile on us," he said.

Shephard said he hopes the team will respond well to the injuries, adding Penn State is team oriented.

"The team understands our program is about more than one person," he said. "It just means that everyone must pull up the slack."

Shephard said freshmen Hoyt and Agnew, and sophomore Bea Selz will elevate their performance level so Penn State can defeat UMass and N.C. State.

"We beat UMass at Georgia," he said. "We can do it again."

UMass is one story, but Michigan is another. The Wolverines, already ranked in the top five, are hungry for more.

"We really have not focused on winning or losing as much as improving ourself," Michigan Coach Bev Plocki said. "We are trying very, very hard to bump LSU for a better regional seed."

Plocki knows about Penn State's injuries, but hopes the meet will still be competitive.

"Hopefully, Penn State will be able to pull some people off the bench and be in the position to make a meet out of it," she said.