Owls defeat Quakers, but fall to Nittany Lions

Temple University women’s gymnastics (1-1, 0-0 East Atlantic Gymnastics League) defeated the University of Pennsylvania (0-2, 0-0 Gymnastics East Conference) and fell to Pennsylvania State University (2-0, BIG-10 Conference) at McGonigle Hall on Friday night in the Keystone Classic.

The Nittany Lions tallied a score of 194.275, the Owls posted an overall score of 193.450 and the Quakers finished with a score of 191.300.

Seven of the Owls’ starting 24 routines were out because of COVID-19 protocol issues, said head coach Josh Nilson.

“I mean, it’s really hard because if you look at the meet as a whole, it wasn’t what we wanted,” Nilson said. 

Temple opened up the meet on vault and posted a score of 48.550. Freshmen all-arounds Anna Hill and Hannah Stallings both posted a team-high score of 9.725. Graduate student all-around Tori Edwards, senior all-around Julianna Roland and senior all-around Ariana Castrence tallied scores of 9.700.

“To be completely honest, they did a great job in the vault,” Nilson said. “We have a few backups on vault this week, we had a few in COVID protocols, and they did a great job on that event.”

Next, Temple competed on bars and scored a mark of 47.675. Castrence led the team in the event with a 9.800, and sophomore all-around Cyrena Whalen followed with a score of 9.700.

The Owls tallied a 48.500 on beam, which was the best among the three teams. Stallings and sophomore all-around Brooke Donabedian posted a meet-high score of 9.800 along with Nittany Lions’ senior Melissa Astarita.

Temple concluded the night on floor posting a score of 48.725, the highest score among the teams. Graduate student all-around Faith Leary, Roland and Edwards scored the highest on the team with a score of 9.775.

In her debut with the Owls, Stallings notched the best all-around score in the meet with a score of 38.900. 

“Hannah has the potential to break [Castrence’s] all-around record,” Nilson said. “I know that’s a big statement, but to be completely honest, I think she was underscored on every single one of her events.”

Temple will travel to Des Moines, Iowa, to compete against Iowa State University (0-1, 0-0 The Big-12 Conference) in the Chow’s Winter Classic on Jan. 15 at 7:30 p.m.