One week after recording its third-straight score above 191.000, the Sacramento State gymnastics team will travel to Tempe, Ariz., to compete in the UNO’s Classic on Friday, Feb. 18. The meet, which will be hosted by 22nd-ranked Arizona State, will also feature Air Force.

The Hornets enter the meet with a 5-6 overall record after a convincing victory over UC Davis (192.925-191-775) on Feb. 11. In the meet, Sacramento State claimed all four event winners plus the all-around champion. In fact, the Hornets swept the top three spots on vault, bars and floor. Individually, senior Jessica Hoffman led the way with a career-best 39.075 in the all-around. Hoffman also won the floor exercise, tied for second on the vault and beam, and was third on bars.

Arizona State pummeled California on Feb. 11, 195.550-181.500 for its first Pac-10 victory of the season. The Sun Devils were led by Ashley Kelly who won all four event titles and the all-around (39.575). Kelly scored 9.85 on vault, 9.90 on bars, 9.925 on floor and 9.90 on beam. Friday’s meeting will be just the second all-time between the two schools. ASU won the previous meet, 191.575-182.100, on Jan. 30, 1998.

After losing to San Jose State on Feb. 11 (193.300-187.825) Air Force is 1-5 this season. The Falcons were guided by sophomore Sashonna Iwaniec and senior Jessa Liegl. Iwaniec tied for second on vault and was fifth on beam while Liegl was fourth on floor. Friday marks the first of two meetings this season between Air Force and Sacramento State. The second will come at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships on Mar. 25. The Hornets lead the all-time series, 12-1, and have won the past four meetings.

• Head Coach Kim Hughes

In his 25th year at the helm of the Hornet gymnastics program, head coach Kim Hughes has built a program from the ground up and has solidified Sacramento State as a contender in the NCAA West Region and Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

With a career record of 203-190-2, Hughes led the Hornets to back-to-back MPSF Championships in 2002 and 2003 before finishing second last season. He also directed Sacramento State to consecutive Western Independent Championships in 2000 and 2001. In 2002, Sacramento State recorded program highs with consecutive meets above 193 (four), most scores over the 194-plateau (four) and most scores over the 193-mark (eight) in a season. Those statistics helped Hughes earn the MPSF Coach of the Year award.

In 2004, Hughes led the team to its two best scores in school history. The top mark of 195.875 came at the Salbasgeon Suites Invitational at Oregon State. The team also set program records on the vault, beam and floor last season.

Among his other accomplishments, Hughes guided Sacramento State to a second-place finish at the National Invitational Tournament in 2000 and gave the program its first regional bid in 1999 while also being named NCAA Region 1 Coach of the Year.

Hughes earned his first Coach of the Year honor in 1984 when the Hornets were a member of the Div. II Northern California Athletic Conference. A graduate of Chico State in 1976, Hughes joined the Sacramento State women’s gymnastics program in 1977 and was named head coach in 1981. During his tenure, Hughes also guided the Hornets to Div. I status in 1992.

• Three In a Row

After seeing its preseason hopes of breaking 190.000 in all 13 meets this season come to a close against Brown (188.750), Sacramento State has bounced back to record three-straight 190.000-plus meets. That streak continued at UC Davis where the Hornets scored 192.925. The team opened the meet with a season-high 48.675 on bars and added 48.175 on vault. The momentum continued on floor where the Hornets amassed a 48.675. However, all dreams of scoring a 194.000 came to an end on beam where the team settled for a 47.400. That total was bolstered by strong showings from freshman Melissa Genovese and Hoffman but also included three scores below a 9.500.

Prior to the UCD meet, Sacramento State scored a season-high 193.200 in a victory over San Jose State. The team has also added a 190.375 at the UCLA quad meet on Jan. 23.

With just five regular season meets and the MPSF Championships remaining, the Hornets will now turn their attention to their Regional Qualifying Score. The score, which is used to determine which teams will advance to the NCAA Regionals, is computed by taking a team’s top six scores (no more than three at home) and then dropping the top mark. The remaining five scores are then averaged and the result is the RQS.

Sacramento State is one of the few teams in the country to have enough meets to compute at RQS at this point in the season. The Hornets currently own an RQS of 191.335. However, that total includes a 189.500 which was scored at San Jose State.

• A Night to Remember

In her four years with the Hornets, senior Jessica Hoffman has competed as an all-arounder in numerous meets. However, the Escondido, Calif., native has never been as productive as she was at UC Davis last week. Hoffman won the floor exercise (9.850), tied for second on vault (9.700) and beam (9.775), and was third on bars (9.750) en route to a career-high 39.075 in the all-around score. Her all-around total was not only a personal best, it is the top mark in the MPSF this season and the best on the team. In fact, the previous team high this year was 38.275 by Nirvana Zaher. Her bars and beam scores were also career highs.

• Five Out of Seven Ain’t Bad

Freshman Alexis Tsurumoto, once again, won the bars title at Friday’s meet. The Concord, Calif., native has now finished first on bars in five of her seven meets this season.

Tsurumoto, who redshirted last season after injuring her knee, has shown little signs of rust on bars during her first collegiate season. The Concord, Calif., native opened her career by winning at Cal State Fullerton and at home against Seattle Pacific. She snapped her streak with a fall against Brown but bounced back with a solid showing at UCLA. On Jan. 28 at San Jose State, Tsurumoto scored 9.800 to win bars and she repeated the feat against the Spartans on Feb. 4 with a 9.850. Last week at UC Davis, Tsurumoto tied her career high with a 9.850. With the exception of the fall, all of our scores have been above 9.550 and she is currently averaging 9.629.

• News and Notes

Junior Kimiye Narasaki competed an exhibition floor routine against UC Davis and scored 9.800. Narasaki had not competed on floor since her freshman season (2003) due to a knee injury.

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