Jan. 15, 2007

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THIS WEEK Jan. 19 - at Seattle Pacific, 7 p.m.

LAST WEEK Jan. 12 - SAN JOSE STATE (2nd, 187.875)

NOTES Freshman Tanya Ho won the individual vault (9.850) and balance beam (9.700), freshman Lida Gehlen captured the uneven bars (9.750) and junior Andi Dolinsky won on floor exercise (9.600) as UC Davis opened the year with a 187.875 at home vs. San Jose State Friday... Ho led a 1-2-3 Aggie sweep on vault, with Carrie Lujan placing 2nd at 9.825 and Brandi Forte taking 3rd at 9.775... The team scored a school-record 48.875 on vault, shattering the old mark of 48.650 set vs. Sacramento State last season... The Aggies led 142.025 to 141.875 through three events, but the Spartans scored 47.575 on beam to overtake their hosts... Friday's meet was the Aggie debut for first-year head coach John Lavallee.

The vault record is just one of two of UC Davis' all-time top 10 team scores set in the month of January... The Aggie uneven bars team posted a 48.775 vs. Boise State last season, T3rd on that event's record book... In fact, it is the highest team event score so early in the season since the floor squad compiled a 48.925 vs. Alaska Anchorage on 1/25/03... Ho's mark ranks T4th in school history on vault, matching teammate Carrie Lujan and Tiffany Chan (twice)... Additionally, it is tied for the highest debut by a UC Davis gymnast in any event... She matches Ericka Ruelas, who scored a 9.850 on uneven bars at the 1999 Western Independent Championships (a precursor to the MPSF Championships).

UP NEXT: UC Davis heads to the Emerald City for a road meet at Seattle Pacific, the first of four Mountain Pacific Sports Federation duals in 2007... The Falcons edged the Aggies in last year's MPSF Championships, scoring a 191.650... SPU returns two USAG All-Americans in seniors Sarah Sullivan and Kristin Bryant... Sullivan placed 3rd in the all-around (38.000) and on vault (9.713), while Bryant was 4th on vault at 9.700... Head coach Laurel Tindall enters her 32nd year at the SPU helm.

HEAD COACH JOHN LAVALLEE
"I'm very pleased overall. We had freshmen in the meet who competed and did an excellent job. Lida Gehlen on bars. Tanya Ho on vault and beam. Michelle Bobonski did a very good bars routine. She just came off a little early, which is atypical for her. Plus, we had Andi Dolinsky on two events after two surgeries last year. Kayla Koch did her first meet in three years. There are a lot of good things happen Friday night."

"We have a lot of healthy people right and it's difficult for us to decide who should compete. That's a good problem to have. The reality is that it will take everybody on the roster to get through the season. People will get sick. Someone will turn an ankle. I think we're in very good position from that standpoint."

"Seattle is our second meet and our first road trip. The team is still getting used to me, and Friday night was my first chance to see how they perform and conduct themselves. Those things take a while. In particular, bars and beam are events that take an athlete four or five weeks to get into a groove, be comfortable saluting the judge, block out all the extraneous variables and have a confident performance. That takes practice. It really takes a few meets to get to that point. We're still in the phase where we're still finding out how good we can be."

"The biggest thing for me was the gymnasts' energy level, their frame of mind, the manner in which they communicated with the coaching staff during the meet. You have to be able to go to a meet and make adjustments. Even going from here [in Hickey Gym] to the Pavilion is a different gym. There are different variables that you have to work with. Friday's meet was a multitude of good things."