GEC Championship Session Two

Recap

The Big Storyline: Brown lead after the first rotation, starting its GEC championship off with a bang and its biggest event score in history on bars, counting four scores of 9.850 or higher and season highs on every single event. Penn quickly swept into first for the remainder of the meet, posting sky-high scores rotation after rotation, ultimately shattering Ivy League records and sweeping into first by a margin just shy of one point. West Chester had a strong meet, as well, adding just over a point and a half to its previous season high and record, helped by a monumental showing on bars, where it counted four scores of a 9.800 or better, good enough for a season high. Jessica Meakim finished with her second-best all-around total in her career. The Tribe rose to the occasion on beam as well with a new season high. Yale started off with a difficult floor rotation, counting a handful of low scores in a competitive session. However, Yale bounced back with a big bar rotation. Notably, closing out the meet for Penn on floor was Sara Kenefick’s 9.975.   

Postseason Implications: Despite the amazing scores in this session, these teams weren’t able to make major moves in the rankings. Penn will, fittingly, finish the season with its best national ranking in program history (No. 50). Yale has meanwhile locked in the No. 4 seed for USAG nationals while Brown will be a very dangerous No. 5 and West Chester will be No. 7.

Records: Penn’s 196.950 is a program record and Ivy League record, toppling the previous record set just last weekend by nearly eight tenths. Penn also set a team record on bars with a 49.325, previously set in 2017. The Quakers also set a record on beam with a 49.250 and floor with a 49.475. Kiersten Belkoff scored a career high 9.875 on beam and Sara Kenefick’s 9.850 on beam and 9.975 on floor are career bests. Connie Hsu scored a new career high on floor with a 9.925. Sydney Kraez scored a career high 9.875 on bars. Emma Davies notched a new best of 9.900 on floor as did Olivia Vanhorn with a 9.825.

Brown set a new team record with a 195.975, a record previously established in 2016 with a 195.175. Brown also set a record on bars with a 49.225, the highest score on any event in team history. Abby Contello set a career best on bars with a 9.925, as did Paige Richter with a 9.850, Taylor Schulze with a 9.850, and Ella Poley with a 9.875. Taylor Schulze also set a new high on beam with a 9.875. Angel Xing did so as well with a 9.800 and Abby Contello with a 9.700. Brown broke a program record on floor with a 49.200. Maya Davis and Julia Bedell set new personal bests with 9.900s. Carolanne Van Zandt followed suit with a 9.875. On vault, Ella Poley scored a new high of 9.775.

West Chester scored a new program record of 195.250, smashing the previous record of 194.400 set in 2017. Jessica Meakim tied her career best 9.925 on floor. Natalie Marshall scored a new high of 9.850 on beam. Hyla Betts and Lauren Wicker scored new highs on bars with 9.825s. Lindsay Chia established a new all around mark for the GEC Championship with a 39.275, averaging just over a 9.800 on each event. Yale set a new record on bars with a 49.175. Raegan Walker scored a new best and program record with a 9.950 on bars. 

Controversies: Scoring felt particularly strict in the first session with not much distinction in the second session, as there were several ties across top competitors in the second session. 

Conference Awards

• Gymnast of the Year: Lindsay Chia (Yale)
• Performance of the Year: Mei Li Costa (Brown)
• Newcomer of the Year: Sydney Beers (Cornell) and Sherry Wang (Yale)
• Woman of the Year: Jessica Meakim (West Chester)
• Assistant Coach of the Year: Morgan Ross (Yale)
• Coach of the Year: Andy Leis (Yale)

Preview

• No. 51 Pennsylvania, 194.875 NQS, 196.225 season high
• No. 58 Yale, 193.760 NQS, 195.050 season high
• No. 60 Brown, 193.405 NQS, 194.675 season high
• No. 61 West Chester, 193.105 NQS, 193.625 season high

If you can only watch one meet, here’s why it should be this one… 

It’s a brand new conference championship that’s never been contested before! What could be more exciting?

It’s been a record-setting year for many teams in the GEC. Penn has dominated this conference all year, crushing its old program record by over a point and becoming the first Ivy League team ever to score above 196.000. Brown and West Chester have flipped their team’s narratives, becoming top conference contenders and secure USAG qualifiers while Yale shocked at the Ivy Classic with an upset win over Penn. 

Brown has been pacing itself extraordinary well, coming in with its second-best program scores three times in the past three meets, ending on a high note last weekend. Had Brown posted that score at the Ivy Classic, Penn would’ve fallen into third place. If Penn doesn’t bring its 195 or 196 game to this conference championship, Yale and Brown will be swarming to take the inaugural title.

Yale’s last outing was unusually low, although the Bulldogs haven’t found as much consistency over this season, so if low Yale shows up, Brown will easily overtake it this weekend. If the Bulldogs come charging at full strength, they could easily clear Brown by a half point or more. It all depends who shows up that day. 

Penn should be the heavy favorite, with a NQS margin of 1.115 over the field, but we said that at Ivy Classic too. A surging Yale can still be a big problem for the Quakers. West Chester has been much more consistent than Brown this year, but Brown has a higher peak. It’ll be interesting to see how things shake out between those two.

If this is one of many meets you’ll be watching, don’t miss this… 

Brown recently received its first single-judge 10.0 score in program history for Mei Li Costa’s bars routine, and freshman powerhouse (and YouTube star) Julia Bedell has brought big numbers for the Bears too. Penn’s record-breaking vault rotation features two different gymnasts who have scored 9.9-plus this year, Kiersten Belkoff and Ariyana Agarwala, while program record-holder McCaleigh Marr and fan favorite Natalie Yang are incredible on beam. For West Chester it’s all about the floor rotation, with Jessica Meakim and McKenna Kissinger ranked No. 1 and No. 2 in the conference. Yale upperclassmen Lindsay Chia and Raegan Walker define the Bulldogs on bars and beam.

What’s the bigger picture to keep an eye on? 

While Yale, Brown and West Chester are all locked into USAG nationals as teams, the seeding is still an open question. Yale is currently in line to receive the No. 4 seed, but it doesn’t have a great deal of margin over No. 5 SEMO.

By the Numbers

Since the Gymnastics East Conference is in its very first year of existence, we don’t have a lot of historical stats to share with you! Everything that happens in Providence will be a conference record.

Check out our feature about the formation of the GEC.

Last Time Out

The last ECAC-I champion was Temple, which now competes in the EAGL. The last ECAC-II champion was Bridgeport.