Sacramento State’s gymnastics team is filled with plenty of unknown factors this season.

The Hornets are entering a new conference packed with nationally competitive teams and the Hornets’ 2006 roster features plenty of new faces. Fortunately head coach Kim Hughes’ team has gotten off on the right foot.

“The biggest difference this year is the depth of talent in each class,” Hughes said. “We’ve gotten someone at every level that is able to step up when we need it.”

Sunday afternoon the Hornets held their ground against the Cal State Fullerton and Alaska Anchorage. However, Sac State looked wobbly during the beam rotation when two gymnasts fell off during their routine, one of the two falls was counted in the final tally.

“This was the first time all year that we’ve had to count a fall into our final score,” Hughes said. “We got a little lucky today, floor really took us over the top.”

It’s almost become a ritual over recent years for the Hornets to finish their home meets on the floor exercise. Senior Trista Condren filled the Hornets Nest with a buzz after her meet leading floor score of 9.850.

“Today we really came together as a team,” Condren said. “We have a lot of strengths on all four events which really makes us consistent.”

Consistency has been the key for Sac State in 2006 and things are continuing to get better. Of the four meets the Hornets have had this year, the team score has increased each time. In the triple meet on Sunday the Hornets season high of 192.425 gave the team its first victory.

“We have such good chemistry as a team this year,” sophomore Melissa Genovese, who took first place on the beam with a score of 9.700. “We’re very excited to face some of these tougher teams.”

Hughes and the Hornets have the next few weeks off from competition and they intend to show how much the team has improved in just the first month of the season. In the first meet of the year Sac State took sixth place in the Oahu Invitational, while California finished just ahead in fifth.

The next week California edged out the Hornets again in the Nest with a score of 191.625. On Feb. 10 the Hornets head down to Berkeley.

The Hornets return to the Nest on Feb. 17 to face off against their old rival San Jose State at 7p.m.

Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]