This Week's Meet
The Sacramento State gymnastics team, now ranked No. 39 in
the nation, will travel to San Jose, Calif., to compete in a
dual-meet against the No. 44 Spartans.
In the past three seasons, Sacramento State holds a 7-1-1
advantage over San Jose State dating back to a 180.525 tie between
the two programs on Feb. 13, 1998.
Last season, the Hornets were matched against the Spartans in
a four-team meet in Berkeley, Calif., the Western Independent
Championships in Davis, Calif., and at the National Invitational
Tournament in Mount Pleasant, Mich.
In those three meets Sacramento State recorded three of the
top five team scores in school history, including a program-high
194.275 in Berkeley.
Meet The Head Coaches
After 23 years, head coach Kim Hughes has built a program
from the ground up and solidified Sacramento State as an NCAA
Regional Qualifier the past two years.
With a career record of 146-150-1, Hughes led the Hornets to
a second-place finish in the NIT last season and gave the program its
first Regional bid in 1999 while also being named NCAA Region 1 Coach
of the Year.
A 1976 graduate of Chico State with a B.A. in physical
education, Hughes competed collegiately for the Wildcats after a
successful high school gymnastics career. He was the
Northern California state high school still rings champion as a
senior in 1971. He joined the Hornet staff as an assistant to the
women's gymnastics program
in 1977 and was named head coach in 1981.
San Jose State head coach Jackie Walker is currently in her
17th year at the helm of the Spartan gymnastics program. Walker has
amassed a 117-155-2 record at San Jose State including a 4-13 mark
last season while leading the Spartans to a sixth-place finish at the
National Invitational Tournament. Walker has a career record of
185-177-2 while spending her first eight years of coaching at
Louisiana State (21-1) and Stanford (47-21).
Last Week's Meet
The Sacramento State gymnastics team extended its 190-plus
scoring streak to 12 meets with a 191.375 against Seattle Pacific
(188.250) and UC Santa Barbara (187.750) at Hornet Gym. With depleted
numbers due to illness, the Hornets used a career-high 9.9 from
senior Jolane Parr on floor exercise and sophomore Toni Petersen's
38.075 all-around to keep the Gauchos and Falcons at bay. Junior
Wendy Baisdon, a school-record holder on bars, and freshman
all-arounder Binta Coleman missed the event due to the flu. Parr, a
native of Salem, Ore., is now tied for the third-highest floor mark
in program history. Seattle Pacific was led in scoring by junior
Alison Siegel's 9.675 on vault as the Falcons were outscored by
Sacramento State for the 11th-straight meet dating back to Jan. 30,
1999. Freshman Leslie Ross led UC Santa Barbara with a 9.675 on beam.
Here's To Your Health
Sacramento State head coach Kim Hughes did not know what his
lineup would consist of or who was available to him due to the flu
bug. School record holder Wendy Baisdon (pneumonia) and all-arounder
Binta Coleman (flu) were unable to compete while Petersen, senior
Elizabeth Lutz (beam) and sophomore Jenny Ball (vault, floor)
competed sick.
Green and Gold Streaks
After Friday's meet, the Hornets have now outscored Seattle
Pacific in eleven straight meets dating back to Jan. 30, 1999.
Sacramento State has also scored over the 190-plateau for the
12th-straight time dating back to a four-team meet in Davis, Calif.,
on Feb. 17, 2000 in Recreation Hall. The Hornets have also recorded a
score of 190 or higher in its first four meets to begin the season.
It marks the first time a Sacramento State team has ever accomplished
the feat.
Hughes' Quotes
On the team competing with all the lineup changes: "The big
factor is that we stayed on beam. Vault was about the same but we
didn't have Binta's score, which is important. On bars we counted
three falls. We had two people filling in for Wendy and Binta who are
two of our better bar workers. One fall is okay but three falls on
bars is unbelievable. Two of them were not starters, that's the main
thing, and without our two sick people it ended up costing us a
point. Then on floor we had another uncharacteristic fall that cost
us. If you add that point on bars alone, it almost puts us back to
193. We just had unusual things happen like illness, replacements and
such."
On San Jose State: "They have a mid-192 average and they've
gone as high as 193 with some 192's and 191's. We're still ranked a
little bit ahead of them. What we can't do is go into their arena,
where the scores are high, count falls and expect to win."
On the regional picture: "We've given up two scores, at Boise
and this last meet. Those were two scoring opportunities to help give
us the average we want. We feel we need a 194 average to be
competitive regionally. We're lucky we got our first two scores to
keep us up there because our last two scores are what everyone else
started with at the beginning of the year. We won't make it not
healthy but I think we have time (seven meets) to make five big
scores. It would be nice to get a multitude of high 193's and low
194's."
Something You Should Know
The Hornets bar score of 47.050 was the lowest since a 46.950
against UC Santa Barbara on Mar. 5, 1999, in Robertson Gym...after
four meets, senior Jami Scoville has earned a 9.850 on floor exercise
three times...sophomore Jenny Ball earned a season-high 9.550 on beam
...junior Karen Sorensen scored a 9.475 in her first beam competition
of the year...head coach Kim Hughes' only tie in his 23 year career
was against San Jose State.
