Exclusive audioClick to hear Carrie Kinghorn’s commentsClick to hear Kimiye Narasaki’s commentsThe Sacramento State Gymnastics team and head coach Kim Hughes welcomed old and new conference rival San Jose State into the Hornets Nest Friday night. Both teams are coming from the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation and trying to stay above water in the more competitive Western Athletic Conference.

The rainy weather seemed to bring out a strong stride in the Hornets as they stuck the landing on vault and had the best showing in the event all season with a score of 48.725.

San Jose’s Shina Cardeno finished first on the vault with a score of 9.825. Hornet Trista Condren’s score of 9.800 on vault, which was good enough for second, while Brooke Morari finished third with a score of 9.775.

Using that momentum heading into the uneven bars, only one Hornet stumbled out of their six competitors. Freshman Marina Borisova slipped during her routine, but quickly brushed it off and finished with a smile. Borisova was the only all-around competitor and the only freshman competing for the Hornets. Sac State’s Alexis Tsurumoto took first on uneven parallel bars with a score of 9.850. Senior Kimiye Naraskai added a third place finish with a score of 9.725.

After both teams had completed three events the scores were tied at 145.00 each. Sac State relied on their artistic technique and flashy dance style to pull them ahead of San Jose State. With all six scores being at or above 9.700 the Hornets edged over the Spartans in the floor event by just one-tenth of a point, 48.925-48.850. Tiffany Bass provided a strong performance on floor scoring a 9.875, which just edged San Jose’s Veronica Porte for the individual title. Porte scored a 9.850. Senior Carrie Kinghorn added a score of 9.825 to finish third for the Hornets.

The final scores reflected a close and heated meet. In the victory the Hornets recorded a season-high for team score with a 193.925 to edge San Jose’s 193.625. Before the meet the Spartans were ranked two spots above Sac State in the national polls. Although with this score it is not expected that the Hornets will topple the Spartans ranking, but it will tighten things up.

With the victory, the Hornets improve to 3-0 in the WAC, and 7-8 overall. The team will now go on a month long road trip through the conference and finally return to the Hornets Nest on March 12 to face UC Davis. They return to action Friday Feb. 24 against Utah State in Logan, Utah.

Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]