Nov. 19, 2008

UC Davis women's gymnastics signed prospective student-athlete Katie Yamamura to a National Letter of Intent (NLI) during the fall signing period, it was announced by head coach John Lavallee. Yamamura, a senior at Henry M. Gunn High School in Palo Alto, Calif., is expected to enroll at UC Davis in the fall of 2009.

Yamamura currently competes at Level 10 for Airborne Gymnastics in Santa Clara. She was a Level 8 state and region beam champion back in 2004, then won the individual vault at the 2006 Region 1 meet as a Level 9 entrant before moving up to Level 10. Yamamura placed fifth in her division at the state meet in 2007, then qualified for regional three weeks later.

"Katie is a very solid performer who will bring some consistency to the Aggie program," said Lavallee. "She has a high skill level and is very consistent in her performances. She should impact us on all four events."

In addition to her gymnastics accomplishments, Yamamura is also a 3.8 student who volunteers with Adobe Animal Hospital and the UNICEF club, while serving as a coach at her gymnastics club. She will become the second member of her family at UC Davis: her older sister Asami is currently an Aggie senior.

UC Davis women's gymnastics won its first Mountain Pacific Sports Federation team title in 2008, scoring a school-record 194.700 at the conference meet. Furthermore, Lavallee earned his second MPSF Coach of the Year award in as many seasons.