GEC Championship Evening Session

Recap

The Big Storyline: The beam was the main storyline of the day. Penn came away with the most normal beam rotation and took the crown easily. All four second-session teams defeated the scores from session one. 

Postseason Implications: If USAGs was based on conference scores, the GEC would be firmly behind all three MIC teams as well as Air Force in the scoring category. Not that that means anything since scoring at different locations is bound to vary drastically. Penn’s season ends since the team does not participate in USAG nationals. Watch out for potential NCAA regional qualifiers. 

Records: Julia Bedell broke Alicia Sacramone’s long-standing floor record with a 9.950. 

Conference Awards

• Gymnast of the Year: Raegan Walker (Yale)
• Event Specialist of the Year: McCaleigh Marr (Pennsylvania) and Julia Bedell (Brown)
• Newcomer of the Year: Marissa Lassiter (Penn)
• Woman of the Year: Tiara DeTommaso (West Chester)
• Performance of the Year: Raegan Walker (Yale)
• Assistant Coaches of the Year: Cassie Hageman and Casey Rohrbaugh (Penn)
• Coach of the Year: Kirsten Becker (Penn)

Preview

• No. 1 Penn | 195.015 NQS | 195.250 season high
• No. 2 Brown | 194.315 NQS | 195.200 season high
• No. 3 West Chester| 193.795 NQS | 194.650 season high
• No. 4 Yale | 193.685 NQS | 194.250 season high

If you can only watch one meet, here’s why it should be this one… If there’s a team that’s going to claim a win today, it’s more than likely one of these four—it would take major missteps for none of these teams to take the second-ever GEC championship title. Penn is the favorite to win, but Brown and Yale can easily take advantage of any missteps to fight for that title. 

If this is one of many meets you’ll be watching, don’t miss this… We’d be remiss not to mention the Marr duo on beam, with both McCaleigh and Campbell notching 9.950s on the event this season, the same score McCaleigh claimed the GEC title with last year. Brown’s Julia Bedell continues to edge closer and closer to toppling the Brown floor record and claiming it as her own, but she’ll need to battle Sara Kenefick, last year’s floor champ, for the top spot. Sydney Beers and Raegan walker, defending vault and bars champs, are both in good form to defend their titles. The top three all-arounders last year, Lindsay Chia, Jessica Meakim, and Kiana Session, will not be there after graduating or transferring. The following three in the standings? Sydney Beers, Sarah Wilson, and Keaghan Schafer. Only Beers and Wilson are competing all-around this year, but Bridgeport’s Lola Sepulveda or West Chester’s Kristina Rodriguez will look to claim the title. 

What’s the bigger picture to keep an eye on? Penn’s team season concludes after today, but Brown, West Chester, and Yale will be doing what they can to get one last shot at qualifying to USAG nationals.

By the Numbers

Past Champions

• Penn: 1 title, last won in 2022
• Bridgeport: 0 titles
• Brown: 0 titles
• Cornell: 0 titles
• Southern Connecticut: 0 titles
• West Chester: 0 titles
• William & Mary: 0 titles
• Yale: 0 titles

Records Watch

• Team: 196.950 (Penn, 2022) | Vault: 48.975 (Brown, 2022) | Bars: 49.325 (Penn, 2022) | Beam: 49.250 (Penn, 2022) | Floor: 49.475 (Penn, 2022)
• All Around: 39.275 (Lindsay Chia, Yale, 2022) | Vault: 9.850 (Sydney Beers, Cornell, 2022) | Bars: 9.950 (Raegan Walker, Yale, 2022)| Beam: 9.950 (McCaleigh Marr, Penn, 2022) | Floor: 9.975 (Sara Kenefick, Penn, 2022)

Last Time Out

With last year being the inaugural season, there isn’t a huge history to comb through, but that first one was a doozy. Penn stormed through, claiming the victory by a landslide with nearly a point between the Quakers and second-place Brown. The Golden Rams would take third, nearly two points behind dominant Penn.