“I almost cried, but I tried to get all my crying done on Senior Night,” said Stefanie Aeder.

In the last floor performance of her collegiate career, Aeder finished in an unusual position — 10th. She was possibly the hardest judge of all on her routine.

“I was happy and disappointed about my ranking,” said Aeder.

Aeder received the highest position of the three Hornets that earned a spot as event specialist at the NCAA gymnastics West Regional meet in Seattle, scoring 9.800 on the floor exercise.

During the regular season, Aeder scored above 9.700 in 12 of 13 total meets, and scored at or above 9.900 four times.

Freshman Alexis Tsurumoto performed as an uneven parallel bars specialist for Sacramento State. Averaging 9.658 on bars during the 2005 season, the freshman placed 29th in Seattle in a field of 42 with a score of 9.600.

“I’d say the toughest judges were on bars,” said head coach Kim Hughes. “The biggest thing for them to do next year is increase their difficulty.”

Hornet beam specialist and fellow freshman Melissa Genovese, ranked No. 25, on beam with a score of 9.725. Genovese qualified for the meet with a regional qualifying score of 9.825.

She also overcame a hyperextended elbow at the beginning of the regular season.

“Having to perform after former Olympians was a lot of pressure,” Aeder said of her teammates. “(Tsurumoto and Genovese) did great.”

One of those former Olympians was UCLA’s Tasha Schwikert. Schwikert scored 39.275 to win the all around and also tied for first on the beam and vault.

As specialists, the trio competed as individuals, without the support of the entire Hornets team.

“You lose that team identity competing as a specialist,” Hughes said.

The Hornets were rotating with the No. 2 team in the nation, UCLA. The Bruins swept the all around and vault, and won the team competition with a score of 197.025.

This season’s team scored the highest regional qualifying score in team history with 193.455.

The team also won the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference title.

Senior Nirvana Zaher won the all around title at the MPSF and was selected to be an alternate for the all-around competition as an individual at the West Regional.

Next season’s team will compete for a new conference with six senior performers as it was announced last Thursday that Sac State will compete in the Western Athletic Conference.

“With six seniors, strong sophomore and junior classes, we are excited about the competition,” Hughes said.

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Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]