With just four regular-season meets remaining before the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships, the Sacramento State gymnastics team will look to take advantage of its favorable home schedule during its stretch run. The Hornets end the year with three of its final four meets at the Hornets Nest, beginning this Friday, Feb. 25, in a tri-meet featuring Alaska Anchorage and UC Davis. The meet will start at 7 p.m. and will serve as a barometer for the MPSF Championships on March 25. All three teams will compete at that meet as well as Seattle Pacific, San Jose State and Air Force.

Sacramento State is coming off a second-place finish at the UNO’s Classic hosted by Arizona State last Friday (Feb. 18). The Hornets scored 191.525 and finished behind the 22nd-ranked Sun Devils (193.650) while defeating Air Force (183.200). Individually, Sacramento State was led by junior Kimiye Narasaki who won beam with a season-best 9.800.

As a team, the Hornets are currently 6-7 overall and could move above .500 for the first time this season with a first-place showing on Friday. Sacramento State is currently ranked 32nd in the nation with a Regional Qualifying Score of 191.740. That mark is also the fourth best in the NCAA West Region and the top score in the MPSF. The Hornets have also been helped by three-straight scores above 191.000.

After adding additional scholarships to its program prior to last season, Alaska Anchorage is currently in the midst of its second-straight strong season. The Seawolves are 7-2 heading into Friday’s competition, including a victory over Boise State. Sophomore Dominique Ingram leads the MPSF with an RQS of 9.775 on vault. Ingram is also second on bars and third on floor. Sacramento State leads the all-time series with UAA, 31-2, and has not lost to the Seawolves since March 7, 1992 (179.050-177.250).

UC Davis competed in a pair of meets last week where it posted a 3-1 record. The Aggies (4-7) defeated both Seattle Pacific and Cal State Fullerton on Friday, Feb. 18, with a score of 190.325. UC Davis came back the following night and scored 188.600 to finish second behind San Jose State and ahead of SPU. Tiffany Chan scored 9.825 on floor and Julia Richards added a 9.675 on beam to both claim event titles on Friday.

• 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 204-191-2, 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.

• Leaderboard

One quick glance at the MPSF stats will find the Hornets near the top of nearly every category. Sacramento State currently leads the conference in team RQS with a score of 191.740. The Hornets also own the second-highest meet score this season with at 193.200 against San Jose State. The team also has the top RQS on all four events (vault 48.150; bars 47.160; beam 47.580; floor 48.165). Sacramento State is also ranked 32nd nationally and fourth in the West Region. The top six teams in the west will advance to the NCAA Regional on April 9. All but two teams (Stanford and San Jose State) have an RQS in the region.

Individually, the Hornets are also atop numerous rankings. Freshman Alexis Tsurumoto is the league leader on bars and is tied for fifth in the West Region with an RQS of 9.805. Fellow freshman Melissa Genovese leads on beam with a 9.596 RQS and senior Stefanie Aeder is the top ranked gymnast on floor at 9.840. Aeder is also tied for fourth in the region. The only event a Hornet does not lead is vault where senior Nirvana Zaher is second with a 9.725 RQS. Alaska Anchorage’s Dominique Ingram leads with a 9.775.

• Balancing Act

As a freshman in 2003, Kimiye Narasaki established herself as one of the top young gymnasts in the West. However, after qualifying for regionals in her first collegiate season, Narasaki had her career derailed by a knee injury suffered during warm-ups in the postseason. The Richmond, Calif., native missed most of last season, before returning solely on bars in four meets.

This year, the former all-arounder added beam back into your repertoire at the start of the season and has since cracked the floor lineup. Her transition back to beam did not take long as she scored 9.775 in her first meet. She later added two more scores above 9.725 before winning the event at Arizona State with a season-best 9.800. She has also remained steady on bars, recording six-straight scores above 9.500. Since coming to floor on Feb. 11, she has scored 9.800 and 9.625.

• Injury Update

Sacramento State received good and bad news last week. Early in the week, junior Rachel Anderson was cleared to compete but freshman Hava McCarter-Ribakoff suffered a knee injury on Wednesday and could be lost for the year. If in the lineup, Anderson would only compete on vault. The Anchorage, Alaska native, was thought to be done for the season due to severe stress fractures in her shin. McCarter-Ribakoff had competed in every meet this season on beam for the team before her injury. The Sacramento native was averaging 9.311 and had three scores above a 9.600.

• News and Notes

Aside from Narasaki’s win on beam, Aeder’s third-place finish on floor (9.725) was the only other mark in the top three at Arizona State…Sacramento State will honor Hughes prior to Friday’s meet in recognition of his 200th career victory.