Gymnastics shakes off early troubles, tops Boise State
Freshman Eryn Stubblefield begins her floor routine in the final rotation for Sac State. Stubblefield finished third with a score of 9.75 on the floor and first in the all-around with 39 points.:
January 30, 2007
Sacramento State’s gymnastics team fell behind, but made a comeback on the final rotation to improve to 5-1 in the Western Athletic League after a 193-191.125 victory over the Boise State Broncos.
Eryn Stubblefield posted a personal best of 39 in the all-around to lead the Hornets in the “Think Pink” meet.
“I never expected this,” Stubblefield said. “The team helped me do it.”
Sac State and Boise State’s gymnasts sported pink leotards and ribbons, and Hornets coaches wore pink polo shirts to raise awareness for breast cancer, benefiting the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.
After two rotations Sac State was behind by .075, and things didn’t get better during the beam rotation as the first three gymnasts recorded falls.
“We knew it was a close one,” said co-captain Melissa Genovese. “We just have to do one skill at a time and hit the routines.”
Stubblefield was up next and all eyes were on her. The Hornets held their breath through a nearly flawless routine. Marina Borisova and Genovese followed posting 9.7 and 9.875, respectively.
The Hornets trailed 144.825-144.105 after the rotation, but knew they could make up for the poor beam scores on the floor. And make up for it they did, recording a season-high on the floor event.
Borisova led the way with a 9.25 and Genovese recorded a 9.9 to boost the Hornets past the Broncos. “Floor is strong for us,” Sac State head coach Kim Hughes said. The showmanship and energy of the floor routine gave the Hornets the lift they needed to be victorious, he added.
It helped that Boise State was without its top three all-around gymnasts and recorded four falls on the beam.
“We have lost our top three all-around (gymnasts) in the last week,” Boise State head coach Sam Sandmire said. “I was proud of the ones who stepped up, but they worked so hard but (just) gave it away.”
Sac State also celebrated the Parents Day March-in, where the gymnasts’ parents joined them at the start of the meet. The Hornets coaches honored Sam Sandmire on her 20 years as a coach for the program and to her retirement at the end of the season.
Karyn Gilbert can be reached at [email protected]
