BORISOVA, STUBBLEFIELD, TAKEDA TO COMPETE AT NCAA WEST REGIONAL

4/2/2009

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Three Sacramento State gymnasts will participate in the NCAA West Regional on Saturday in Seattle, Wash. The group is comprised of senior Marina Borisova and juniors Eryn Stubblefield and Traci Takeda.

Borisova and Stubblefield each earned berths in the all-around while Takeda will compete on beam. The NCAA assigns the top 36 teams in the nation to the six regionals. After those teams have been seeded, the next five all-arounders in each region are awarded berths based upon their season Regional Qualifying Score. Following that, one event specialist is also invited.

The meet, which is being hosted by Washington, will also include Utah, Auburn, Illinois, Boise State and San Jose State. The top two teams from each of the six regionals will move on to the NCAA Championships in Lincoln, Neb. The top two all-around scores outside of those two teams will also advance.

The three Sacramento State gymnasts last competed on March 21 where they helped the Hornets finish second at the Western Athletic Conference Championships with a season high team score of 195.350. In front of a sold out crowd in its home gym, Sacramento State trailed only Boise State (196.525) while defeating Southern Utah (195.175), San Jose State (194.875), Cal State Fullerton (192.975), and Utah State (192.425).

The Hornets finished the year ranked 39th nationally with an RQS of 194.095. New Hampshire (a team Sacramento State defeated on March 8) and Maryland tied for the final two berths into the field with RQSs of 194.625.

Borisova enters the meet as the top at-large qualifier in the all-around. The senior scored a season-high 39.200 on March 13 and has finished first in the all-around five times this season. The Sacramento native also becomes just the third gymnast in school history to compete in the NCAA postseason four times. Borisova, who competed as a member of the team the past three years, joins Melissa Genovese and Alexis Tsurumoto.

Stubblefield kept her regional streak alive with her third appearance in as many years. A native of Corvallis, Ore., Stubblefield led the Hornets at the WAC Championships with a career best all-around score of 39.050, which placed second in the meet. She earned first team all-WAC honors in the all-around as well as second team accolades on beam.

Like Stubblefield, Takeda will also be making her third regional appearance. The junior has been a fixture in the beam lineup this season where she averaged 9.670in 11 routines. The Clovis, Calif., native had six scores of at least 9.700, including a 9.925 at Southern Utah to help her earn WAC Specialist of the Week honors. At the WAC Championships, Takeda scored 9.825 to tie for fifth place despite being the first competitor of the meet.

The three gymnasts were each assigned to rotate with different teams. Borisova will compete with Utah, Stubblefield with Washington and Takeda with San Jose Sate.

Washington will provide live scoring and video of the meet. To access either option, select the link at the top of the page.