STANFORD ?” After Saturday night, the seven seniors on the Sacramento State gymnastics team will be looking for something to fill the void in their lives.

The Hornets placed fifth at the NCAA West Regionals at Stanford on Saturday, but the most difficult thing for the seniors wasn’t watching two other teams moving on to Nationals, it was not being able to look forward to next season as gymnasts.

“I know these seniors are excited and sad at the same time. It wasn’t their best meet. The fact is that this sport is in the blood,” assistant coach Randy Solorio said. “Most of these girls have been doing this their entire lives. It is very difficult to let go. It is kind of the reason why I became a coach.” Solorio was a former gymnast for UC Davis.

“We were all very excited to be here and compete. But I don’t think our heads were in the right place, the energy was different tonight,” senior Kimiye Narasaki said. “We started solid, but going to the bye really cut our energy.” Narasaki posted the second highest score of the meet for a Hornet with a 9.800 on the beam.

This was the first six team meet for Sac State since the first meet of the year in early January. The long down times seemed to have a souring affect. The Hornets made a strong showing on their first event, the beam. Sophomore Melissa Genovese completed an entire season without falling on the beam and scored a 9.750. Surprisingly the floor turned out to be the weak point in the Hornet’s rotation.

Along with all other fives teams at the meet, Sac State had stepped out of designated areas and stumbled on a few passes. Marina Borisova, Western Athletic Conference Freshman of the Year, led the team on the floor with a 9.850, tying for fifth in the event. Borisova also took sixth place in the all-around competition with 38.625.

“I think the team did OK,” Borisova said. “Of course I think we can do better. We started really good, but it wasn’t the same as usual.”

“Maybe (the team was) too anxious going to floor,” head coach Kim Hughes said. “It was a disappointment. But still the scores don’t reflect how well we did.” Scores were expected to be down across the board as four judges were scoring each event. In the regular season two judges score an event.

A crowd of more than 3,100 people did not get to see the Hornets perform at their very best. The line had to be jumbled and reset the day of the meet. Sophomore Amber Basgall was unable to perform after injuring her knee during vault warm-ups on Friday. Stepping in for Basgall was senior Sharee Burgess, who performed on floor for the first time since Jan. 22 at the tri-meet with Cal State Fullerton and Alaska Anchorage.

Sophomore Tiffany Bass was penciled in to replace Basgall on the bars. Since Bass had not performed but once, in an exhibition last year, she was quite nervous just before her routine. The rest of the Hornets looked on, holding their breath and were visibly relieved when Bass stuck her dismount. But the sophomore was more concerned for the team’s morale.

“The confidence level was terrible, the usual energy just wasn’t there,” Bass said.

Although No. 5 Alabama would not traditionally be considered part of the West Region, they did dominate the meet with a score of 196.475. Oregon State will join the Crimson Tide after its second place finish with a score of 195.800. Stanford’s Tabitha Yim won the all-around with a 39.525.

In this off-season the team will be looking to replace seven seniors. The rest of the team will be given about two weeks vacation before coach Hughes would like to see them back in the gym, gearing up for 2007.

Brad Alexander can be reached at [email protected]