The Sacramento State gymnastics team recorded its second-consecutive Mountain Pacific Sports Federation crown and its fourth-consecutive conference title (two Western Independent crowns in 2000 and 2001) as the Hornets tallied a season-high 194.925 Saturday evening at the Hornets Nest. San Jose State (194.500) and Seattle Pacific (193.000) finished in the top three while Air Force (192.050), UC Davis (189.650) and Alaska Anchorage (187.300) rounded out the rest of the field. The Hornets team score was the second-highest total in program history.On event scoring, Sacramento State captured vault (48.550) and bars (48.975) while San Jose State placed first on beam (49.050) and floor (49.350).
Individually, sophomore Nirvana Zaher tied for first on vault with San Jose State’s Danielle Albright with a score of 9.775. Junior Binta Coleman tied for first on bars with San Jose State’s Shirla Choy with a 9.900. For Coleman, a native of Elk Grove, Calif., the mark was a career high and placed her tied for fifth in the program record book for the event. On beam, San Jose State’s Amberly Klein placed first with a mark of 9.875. The Spartan’s also took home the floor title with Dani Albright’s 9.975.
Senior Jenny Diamond tied for third on vault (9.750) and floor (9.925), freshman Kimiye Narasaki tied for second on beam with a career-high 9.825, and Zaher placed third all-around with a career-high 39.150 to round out the Hornets in the top three. For Diamond, a native of Murray, Utah, her floor score was a personal-best mark and also tied her for the program record with Toni Petersen (2000) and Andi Arnold (1999). Diamond was also voted 2003 MPSF Women’s Gymnast of the Year prior to the meet.
San Jose State head coach Wayne Wright was named 2003 MPSF Women’s Gymnastics Coach of the Year.
Also placing in the top 10 for the Hornets were sophomore Jessica Hoffman (tied for sixth, with a personal-best 9.700) on vault and (tied for fifth, 9.800) on bars, sophomore Meloney Greer (tied for seventh, 9.775) on bars, freshman Trista Condren (tied for sixth, 9.700) on vault, Diamond (tied for seventh, personal-best 9.800) on beam, sophomore Stefanie Aeder (tied for eighth, career-high 9.875), and Zaher (tied for seventh, career-high 9.775) on bars, (tied for 10th, 9.725) on beam and (tied for eighth, career-high 9.875) on floor.
Sacramento State will now wait for individual selections to the 2003 West Regionals on April 12.
