OPENING PASS
• The Sacramento State women’s gymnastics team will continue life on the road this week as it travels to Boise, Idaho, to face Boise State and Seattle Pacific on Friday, Feb. 12, at Taco Bell Arena. The meet will begin at 6 p.m. PST.
• Live stats and video will be available through Boise State’s web site (www.broncosports.com). The live scoring option is free but there is a charge to view the video stream.
• Friday’s meet will also serve as a Pink Meet. The Hornets will wear their new pink leotards in the competition which helps raise awareness and money for breast cancer. Sacramento State will host its own Pink Meet on Feb. 19 against San Jose State.
• This week will mark the second time this season that the Hornets have faced each team. Boise State prevailed in the season opener at the Flips Invitational in Reno, Nev. The Broncos scored 194.200 while Sacramento State was limited to a season low of 188.925. The Hornets secured a win over SPU on Jan. 22 with a 190.700-186.450 decision.
THE LAST TIME OUT
Sacramento State cracked the 193-plateau for the first time this season and finished the meet in third place with a season high of 193.225 at Stanford on Feb. 7. The Hornets finished behind No. 8 Stanford (196.650) and No. 24 Washington (194.075) and ahead of San Jose State (192.800). Sacramento State also scored 48-plus on each of the four events, including a season best on vault (48.125).
Individually, five Hornets set or tied career best marks. That group included Amanda Blauvelt who matched her career high on bars with a 9.800 and tied her for sixth in the meet. Blauvelt’s score was also the highest by a Sacramento State gymnast at the meet.
ITS IN THE VAULT
It wasn’t the lineup the Sacramento State coaches envisioned at the start of the year, but the group that represented the Hornets on vault produced the team’s best score of the year. All six gymnasts scored between 9.500 and 9.725 to push the team over 48 points for the first time in 2010. Eryn Stubblefield and Traci Takeda each scored 9.725 to tie for eighth overall. The team also counted a 9.625 from Blauvelt, a 9.575 from Amanda Bieber and Chantal Angyal’s 9.550.
At Stanford, the Sacramento State lineup featured Blauvelt for the first time this season but did not have Lissa Zamolo and Nicole Meiller, who had been in the lineup the previous week. Both are likely to return at Boise State and should help the Hornets continue to rebound in the event.
A BUSY WEEKEND
Apparently, a hectic schedule is just what Lizzy Norvell needed. The senior beam specialist had struggled through the first three meets of the year, averaging 8.975. That all changed at Stanford, where Norvell scored 9.575. The performance at Stanford came 48 hours after Norvell qualified for the Big Sky Championships in the pole vault after clearing 12-feet, 7.5-inches. Following the competition on Friday night in Albuquerque, Norvell flew back to Sacramento State for a Saturday afternoon practice before travelling with the team on Sunday.
TERRIFIC TURNAROUND BY TAKEDA
Senior Traci Takeda set season highs in each of her three events at Stanford. The Clovis, Calif., native recorded scores of 9.725 on vault, 9.675 on bars and 9.775 on beam. Her beam score was the best on the team, she tied for the team high on vault and ranked third among the Hornets on bars. An NCAA Regional qualifier a year ago, Takeda’s performance at Stanford came just one week after only one of her three scores were counted by Sacramento State.
OPENING PASS
