PHILADELPHIA – The University of Pennsylvania gymnastics team begins the 2023 season out in western Pennsylvania for the second annual Keystone Classic, hosted by Pitt Friday evening at 7 p.m. Other teams competing in the event along with the Panthers include Penn State and Temple.
 
2023 Keystone Classic | Penn, Pitt, Penn State and Temple
Friday, January 6 | 7 p.m. | Fitzgerald Fieldhouse | Pittsburgh, Pa.
Watch: ACC Network Extra, ESPN+ | Live Stats
 
Quaker Notemeal
*The Quakers are excited to bring back four captains for the 2023 season, all four key contributors from a 2022 campaign that saw Penn win the inaugural Gymnastics East Conference (GEC) crown. The captains are juniors Kiersten Belkoff (Beam), Rose DeBarberie (Vault), junior Sara Kenefick (Floor) and senior Sarah Penuela-Wermers (Bars).
 
*Penn also returns 2022 NCAA qualifier McCaleigh Marr, who scored a 9.775 in her beam routine at NCAA Regionals in Norman, Okla. She finished tied for 19th place with a pair of gymnasts from Arkansas (Amanda Elswick and Kalyxta Gamiao). At GECs in March, Marr finished with the top score on the balance beam (9.950) to match both her season-best and break the program record. She became the first Penn gymnast to qualify for NCAA Regionals since 2018.
 
*Nine gymnasts brought home a total of 17 All-GEC accolades last season with Belkoff (Vault), DeBarberie (Vault), Sydney Kraez (Vault) Isabel Song (Vault), Marr (Bars and Beam), Kenefick (Floor) and Emma Davies (Floor) garnering first-team accolades.
 
*It was a record-setting day in the final meet of the regular season on March 13 last year as the Quakers recorded their best team score in program history at the University of Maryland Quad, registering a mark of 196.225. It was also the highest-ever score recorded by an Ivy League program. The Red and Blue ended up coming in fourth place behind George Washington and the Terrapins.
 
*Penn finished just short of claiming its second consecutive Ivy Classic title last season with a score of 194.125 to finish in second place. Yale took home the trophy with a 195.050. Now a junior, Kristen Kuhn was the Ivy Classic Co-Champion in the uneven bars with a career-high score of 9.900. The Quakers will again search for their 14th Ivy Classic title in 2023.
 
*The Quakers boast a pretty impressive freshman class this year, all with high potential to help the team defend the GEC title. Those gymnasts include Skyelar Kerico, Marissa Lassiter, Carly Oniki, Alyssa Rosen, Alisha Werlen and Samantha Wu.
 
*Lassiter was named an "Underrated Freshman to Watch" by College Gym News in late December. The Waldorf, Md. native qualified for JO Nationals in 2022.
 
*For the second consecutive preseason, Penn was picked as the Gymnastics East Conference (GEC) preseason favorite in a preseason poll released in December. The Red and Blue led the poll with 60 points and five out of a possible eight first-place votes.