Feb. 11, 2008

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK Feb. 16 - at Air Force, Noon MST

LAST WEEK Feb. 8 - CAL STATE FULLERTON (2nd, 190.025)

NOTES TO RECAP: UC Davis scored 190.025 in a dual loss to Cal State Fullerton as part of Friday's Beauty & The Beast promotion... Senior Michelle Kulovitz (floor exercise) and freshman Stacey Nicolini (beam) each picked up event wins, capping strong multi-event meets for both gymnasts... Kulovitz tied her career best with a winning 9.825 on floor while adding a 9.750 on vault and 9.575 on bars... Her floor mark is by far the highest by any Aggie on that apparatus... The previous team best had been 9.675 -- also by Kulovitz... Nicolini landed a 9.775 on vault and won beam with a career-high 9.750... Nicolini's vault anchored a 48.675 team score in the event, which ranks sixth in school history.

Other highlights include Michelle Bobonski's career-high 9.800 on vault, good for second place... Junior Adee Schoffman hit 9.725 on floor to finish second to her teammate... Sophomore Lida Gehlen made her collegiate floor debut, turning in a 9.600... Senior Andi Dolinsky matched that mark in her second meet of the year... Freshman Ashley Lachman tied her PR on vault, leading off the lineup with a 9.625.

UC Davis holds the top four slots on the conference's vault leaderboard... Tanya Ho paces the MPSF with a 9.731 total average, with Bobonski (9.692), Miller (9.692) and Nicolini (9.658) right behind... The rankings, collected at Troester Consulting (www.troester.com), will begin listing gymnasts by Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) on February 18... With six meets completed, the Aggies have hit the minimum for an RQS, compiling a 189.625 thus far.

UP NEXT: The Aggies return to Mountain Pacific Sports Federation action with a road meet at Air Force on Saturday... The Falcons, under the direction of second-year head coach Doug Day, finished fourth in a four-team meet at Denver Saturday, scoring a 186.225... AFA picked up its first win the week before, beating MIT by a 188.100 to 180.950 margin... The Falcons' season-high 188.400 came at home vs. Centenary on January 20... Freshman Brittany Dutton led her team on vault (9.600), beam (9.700), floor (9.450) and in the all-around (37.500)... Junior Abigail Rogers, who has hit as high as 9.850 this season, leads the MPSF on floor exercise with a total average of 9.645... She had captured MPSF Gymnast of the Week honors after hitting a career-high 38.225 all-around score on Jan. 20.

HEAD COACH JOHN LAVALLEE
"Each week, different people have stood out. The problem is that it has been different people and we haven't had a collective effort by everybody. We've maintained a pretty consistent performance level, and it is reflected in our scores. It's frustrating for everybody at this point. But this group is very motivated, so you can't say the team doesn't want it. They just haven't yet figured out how to put it all together."

"There were a lot of really good things on Friday. We had Michelle Bobonski vaulting. It's the first time since her junior year of high school that she has been able to vault because of back issues. She now has a huge vault going. Tanya's ankles have been a little sore, so we have been playing it easy with her. We're looking to get her on her feet and strong in the second half of the season. Michelle Kulovitz had a great night. Her performance was outstanding. There are a lot of very good individual things going on. It's just that, as a collective group, we haven't figured out the combination to the lock."