Sacramento State avenges early road loss to San Jose State, 192.000-190.575

This Week's Meet

The Sacramento State gymnastics team will look to make a push

in the West Region during its back-to-back road meets in Santa

Barbara and Fullerton, Calif., on Mar. 9-10. On Friday, The Hornets

will compete in a dual-meet with the UC Santa Barbara Gauchos at 7

p.m. in Robertson Gym. The team will then compete in a tri-meet on

Saturday with Cal State Fullerton and Illinois.

Sacramento State defeated both UC Santa Barbara and Cal State

Fullerton earlier this season and will face Illinois for the first

time.

On Feb. 9, the Hornets scored a 191.375 to outlast Seattle

Pacific (188.250) and the Gauchos (187.750) during a tri-meet in

Hornet Gym.

Senior Jolane Parr recorded a career-high 9.9 on floor exercise to lead the Hornets while freshman Leslie Ross led the Gauchos with a 9.675 on beam.

The Hornets outscored the Titans for the first time in four

meetings, dating back to Jan. 16, 1999, with a 193.575-191.925

victory at Hornet Gym in the first meet of the 2001 season.

Sacramento State's score was the third highest in program history.

Binta Coleman led the Hornets in her first collegiate

competition by winning three of five events. The freshman recorded a

9.775 on vault, a 9.850 on beam and a 39.000 all-around to lead all

competitors.

Sophomore Jaimie Moody led the Titans with a 9.850 on bars.

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.

UC Santa Barbara head coach Megan Fenton is in her fourth

year at the helm of the Gaucho gymnastics program. She has

accumulated an 8-47 career record including an 0-22 mark last season

and a fourth-place finish in the USA Collegiate Nationals.

Cal State Fullerton head coach Julie Knight has now been in

charge of the Titan program for three years and has a 19-11 career

record. Last season, she led her squad to a third-place finish in the

Big West Conference with a 12-3 overall record.

Illinois head coach Bob Starkell is in his second season with

the Fighting Illini and has a career record of 7-10. Last season,

Illinois finished fifth in the Big Ten Conference with a 7-10 record.

Last Week's Meet

The Sacramento State gymnastics team extended its 190-plus

scoring streak to 15 by defeating the Spartans of San Jose State,

192.000-190.575, Friday evening at Hornet Gym.

Junior Wendy Baisdon, fully recovered from the effects of

pneumonia, competed for the first time in three weeks but the Hornets

were dealt another blow when sophomore all-arounder Toni Petersen

sprained her ankle in warm-ups and was unable to compete.

Even with the last minute lineup change, Sacramento State led

by two points after the first two events due to San Jose State

counting two falls on the uneven bars. The lead evaporated in the

next rotation when the Hornets fell four times on the balance beam

allowing the Spartans back in the contest.

With the score tied at 143.300 after three rotations, the

Hornets went on to score a 48.700 on floor exercise to the Spartans'

47.275 on balance beam to take the meet.

Senior Jami Scoville, the last competitor for the Hornets on the evening, recorded a career-high 9.875 on floor exercise to lead the team. Senior Jolane Parr (9.800, floor), freshman Binta Coleman (9.750, floor) and junior Lori Gillette (9.725, bars) also placed in the top three in their respective events.

Hughes' Quotes

On the Importance of This Week: "These are our last two away

scores that count towards our Regional Qualifying Score. For regional

qualification you need two home scores, two away scores and two

optional. So we would always like to be able to use these as our

best- two away scores. Then our next two home meets in a row will

hopefully be our top two home scores and then everything that we have

left over from previous meets will be used as optional scores. Right

now Cal State Fullerton and Illinois are two RQS points higher than

us and we are capable of scoring as high as them. We just need to get

back to the level we showed early in the year. I think this will be

something to get the team psyched up and ready."

On the Team's Mind Set: "We know what our competition order

is for these two meets, we start on bars and end on vault. It's

actually a very good order for us on an away meet. Bars is one of our

strongest events so the team can approach that with a lot of energy.

We know that floor is an event where scores escalate slightly and we

are fortunate to have Illinois performing first to warm up the

judges. That's another area where we can come on strong. Obviously we

have to focus on beam. Luckily for us it's our second event of the

night and not the first. It's always difficult to begin a meet on the

balance beam so starting on bars is good for us."