March 9, 2009

Complete Release in PDF Format

THIS WEEK
Friday, Mar. 13 - at Sac State w/Cal & Seattle Pacific, 7 p.m.

LAST WEEK
Sunday, Mar. 8 - SAC STATE/UNH/BGSU (2nd, 192.950)

NOTES
LAST WEEK: The Aggies (6-9-1) compiled a season-high mark for the eighth straight weekend, scoring 192.950 on a highly competitive quadrangular home finale Sunday... Sacramento State won the meet fairly convincingly with a 194.625, but UC Davis, New Hampshire (192.525) and Bowling Green State (192.400) finished within less than seven-tenths of each other in the race for second place... Junior Lida Gehlen was the Aggies' highest individual event finisher, placing 2nd on bars with a 9.850, tying her season best... Sunday's meet served as Senior Day (as the home finale for Adee Schoffman, Andi Dolinsky and Kayla Koch), an alumni gathering (past UC Davis gymnasts joined the current team plus BGSU and UNH for a post-meet dinner), and a reunion of the 1999 USAG champion team (including a new banner, designed by junior Christine Tao, to adorn the Aggies' practice center in Hickey Gym)... Co-captains Schoffman and Dolinsky celebrated their final Pavilion meet by sharing third place on floor exercise at 9.775.

RANKINGS: UC Davis has reclaimed the throne for the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation's top team score of the year... The Aggies are tops in the league and ninth in the West Region with a 191.880 regional qualifying score (RQS)... Gehlen's 9.850 score on Sunday allowed her to drop a 9.700 from the RQS calculation, bumping her score to a 9.800 (T19th)... She remains on track to grab the individual at-large berth to the regional in that event, assuming Sacramento State's Marina Borisova makes the meet as an all-arounder...

Junior Tanya Ho boosted her all-around RQS to 38.140, thanks to Sunday's 38.450... This pulls her into sixth among those competing for the five at-large slots for regionals... She trails Borisova, Alaina Baker (Cal State Fullerton), Sophia Hocini (California), Eryn Stubblefield (Sac State) and Leah Wilson (Alaska Anchorage)... Ho needs to score a 38.275 to surpass Wilson's RQS of 38.205, although Wilson's average will also change in the coming weeks.

UP NEXT: UC Davis and Sacramento State square off for the third time this season, this time at the Hornet's Nest with California and MPSF rival Seattle Pacific.

SACRAMENTO STATE (7-8) continues its long-standing trend of enjoying season-best meets against UC Davis... In fact, of the eight all-time Hornet scores of 195 or better, only two - the 2004 Oregon State Salbasgeon Suites Invitational and 2007 WAC Championships - did not involve the Aggies... The Hornets moved up to No. 40 in the national rankings, although their 193.370 RQS is still a full point behind the No. 36 team... Borisova won the all-around in the recent quadrangular at UC Davis, scoring a 39.075 overall... She also captured the bars title with a 9.875... Traci Takeda (beam) and Alycia Chan (floor) also posted event wins on Sunday.

CALIFORNIA (0-13) finished third in a tri-meet at Michigan State, scoring a 190.725 overall... Senior Bridgette Glass posted a season-high 9.850 on bars to claim her fourth event win for the year... Hocini placed second in the all-around at 38.400... The Golden Bears rank 10th in the West Region with a 190.850 RQS, more than a full point behind UC Davis.

SEATTLE PACIFIC (1-14) still looks to break the 190-point barrier in 2009, most recently finishing third in the tough Salbasgeon Suites Invitational at Oregon State... Sophomore Bri Steigauf finished T4th on floor exercise with a 9.825, the highest score by any Falcon this season... She ranks third in the MPSF in that event with a 9.740 RQS, behind only Dolinsky and conference front-runner Shakea Sanders of UAA, both of whom are tied at 9.780.

HEAD COACH JOHN LAVALLEE
"Sunday was a huge day for UC Davis gymnastics. We came into a meet with three teams ranked ahead of us. We struggled on beam and were in fourth place. We then proceeded to come back and climb over two teams who were ranked ahead of us nationally. That is a huge performance. I liken it to the [Bakari Grant] touchdown catch against Northern Colorado last fall. To take a bit of a bloody nose then come back and perform on floor the way we did shows a great deal of character and resolve. This team has some gamers."

"Plus, we did all this in front of the 1999 national championship team. We did it honoring our seniors. The freshmen stepped up on beam and floor, which was a shot in the arm for us. It really was a good day for the program."