SACRAMENTO, Calif.-- The Hornet gymnastics team announced the signing

of two-time Egyptian National Champion Nirvana Zaher on Friday.

Zaher, a native of Cairo, Egypt, will enroll at Sacramento State as a

freshman in the fall of 2001.

Zaher, who has competed in Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt since the

age of 10, captured the 2000 and 2001Egyptian National Championships

in Cairo. She also had top finishes at the African Championships

trials in 2000 and the African and Arab Games trails in 1999.

Zaher will be reunited with her brother, Sherif, who was a member of

the Hornets' 2001Big Sky Conference Championship men's tennis team

and was named Big Sky Conference MVP.

She joins Dana Raeber of Visalia, Calif., and Melony Greer of Couer

D'Alene, Idaho, as the first three Hornet signees of the 2001 season.