The Sacramento State gymnastics team will put its undefeated Western Athletic Conference record on the line when it travels to Logan, Utah, to face 24th-ranked Utah State on Friday, Feb. 24. The Hornets enter the meet with a 7-8 overall mark and a 3-0 league record. After opening the season 0-6, the team has won seven of its last nine matchups. Those two losses came to then fifth-ranked Stanford and then 11th-ranked UCLA.

In its most recent meet, the Hornets posted a season high 193.925 to edge San Jose State (193.625) by three-tenths of a point. The score marked the fifth-consecutive contest in which Sacramento State has improved its score. The total was just .425 shy of cracking the school’s all-time top 10.

Sophomores Alexis Tsurumoto and Tiffany Bass each claimed individual titles in the meet. Tsurumoto scored 9.850 on bars to claim her 10th event title in her career. Bass matched her career high with a 9.875 on floor. While the team did have some individual accolades in the meet, it was the balance in the lineup that provided the victory. As a squad, Sacramento State set season highs in vault (48.725) and floor (48.925) as well as total points.

Utah State moved to 24th in the latest poll — the first using Regional Qualifying Scores this season. The Aggies are 4-9 overall but own an RQS of 192.720. The team finished second in a three-team meet hosted by Boise State on Feb. 17 after scoring 192.225. Jessica Parenti has been the most consistent member of the team as she currently leads the WAC on vault (9.765 RQS), bars (9.760) and floor (9.750) and is second in the all-around (38.650).

Friday’s meet will mark the first time the two teams have met since Feb. 4, 2000. In that meeting, Sacramento State recorded a 190.475-190.450 victory for its only win in four meets against the Aggies.

• Head Coach Kim Hughes

In his 26th 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 the Western Athletic Conference.

With a career record of 219-200-2, Hughes led the Hornets to back-to-back MPSF Championships in 2002 and 2003 and added a third tile in 2005. 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.

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.

• Numbers Game

This week marks the return of the Regional Qualifying Score to the national rankings. And with the addition comes the confusion of trying to sort it all out. The RQS is composed of a team’s or individual’s top six scores. The top score is removed and the remaining five scores are then averaged. However, those five scores may only include up to three home scores.

The RQS is used to determine national rankings, and more importantly, those teams which will compete at NCAA Regionals. Each region is guaranteed its top three schools will move on to the postseason. Some regions can advance up to six schools.

Sacramento State currently ranks 33rd nationally and sixth in the West Region with an RQS of 191.000. If the Hornets can score over 192.500 at Utah State, they would move ahead of both Washington and San Jose State in the regional rankings.

• Have Another

One quick glance at the individual WAC standings on bars and you would not see Alexis Tsurumoto. The sophomore, who has dominated the event over the last two seasons is currently 10th in the league with an RQS of 9.585. That could all change this week when the Concord, Calif., native will hopefully be able to drop her one bad routine (an 8.800 against Cal) from her RQS. Tsurumoto will need only to score a 9.675 at Utah State to match the conference leading 9.760 RQS of the Aggies’ Jessica Parenti.

Last week against San Jose State, Tsurumoto scored 9.850 to finish first for the 10th time in her two-year career and the third time this season. Last year, Tsurumoto won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation title as a redshirt freshman and advanced to the NCAA West Regional as an event specialist. Earlier this season, she finished in a five-way tie for first with a 9.875 in a meet which featured UCLA and Cal.

• Staying Consistent

After a roller-coaster start to her season, senior Kimiye Narasaki has become one of the most consistent gymnasts on the team. In fact, Narasaki has become so consistent she has received the same score in five of her last seven routines despite the event. Beginning with the Cal Quad on Feb. 10, the Richmond, Calif., native scored 9.725 on both vault and floor. Last week against San Jose State, she scored 9.725 on vault, bars and floor. Her only other scores in the those meets where a career high 9.850 on bars at Cal and a 9.150 on beam in that same meet.

• Bass Master

Tiffany Bass returned to the lineup after missing the Cal meet due to a back injury. The sophomore showed little signs of rust as she scored a career-high 9.875 to finish first on floor. The victory for Bass was her first this season on any event. While Bass was back in the lineup on beam and floor she was left out of beam. She could possible make a return this week to the event where she is averaging 9.600.

• News & Notes

Sacramento State could possibly have two all-arounders for the first time this season…prior to the last meet, Narasaki was the team’s only all-arounder. Last week, freshman Marina Borisova earned her first all-around spot but Narasaki was left out on beam.

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