A record-setting three Sacramento State gymnasts competed at the NCAA West Regional on Saturday, only two weeks after the team won its third consecutive conference championship by taking the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championships.

Junior Toni Peterson, senior Lori Gillette and freshman Nirvana Zaher participated in the regional competition on Saturday, marking the first time in seven years that the Hornets have sent three individual competitors to the event.

Peterson, who competed in the all-round, was the first all-round competitor sent to the regional competition by Sac State in four years. She scored a 9.9 on the floor, a 9.75 on the beam and a 9.625 on the bars before running into trouble during her final rotation– the vault.

“She warmed up just fine,” Hornet coach Kim Hughessaid. “But she just missed her vault. Unfortunately, she had a fall and just ran a little too hard.”

After receiving a 7.2 in the vault, Peterson fell through the ranks in the all-around competition and into last place. She recorded just a 36.525, almost three points lower than her conference championship score. Her 39.325 at the MPSF championships also established a new school record, devastating Binta Coleman’s mark.

Although her postseason performance may not have been exactly what Peterson hoped for, her success throughout the regular season has gone unmatched.

In nine out of twelve all-around events this season, Peterson reigned supreme amongst her Hornet teammates.

Despite faltering at the regional meet, Peterson still finished the year ranked No. 75 in the all-around nationally.

“She has made a remarkable improvement from her freshman and sophomore years,” Hughes said. “She was a little inconsistent at the beginning of the season because she added a lot of difficulty to her routines.

But next year she should be exceptionally strong and go on to qualify for regionals as well as nationals.”

In the last competition of her collegiate career, senior Lori Gillette, a specialist in bars, recorded a score of 9.075 in her event.

Gillette had not fallen all season in her event, but at the regionals her luck finally ran out.

“It was the regionals and you go extra big and don’t hold anything back,” Hughes said. “It was not the perfect routine she wanted to do for her last routine.”

Gillette recorded one of the lowest scores in the event, placing 40th amongst the 42 competitors who had qualified for the event.

Still Gillette remains one Sac State’s most dominant gymnasts on the bars, ever.

Four of the top ten scores in the bars competition bare her name, and she also shares the program best score on bars of 9.95 with teammate Wendy Baisdon.

Nine times this season Gillette led the Hornets on the bars, ranking her No. 37 nationally in the bars competition.

Nirvana Zaher, who headed into the regional competition ranked No. 151 in the nation, qualified for the regional competition in the vault.

With a score of 9.775 on vault, Zaher narrowly missed a top ten finish. Faced with tighter scoring, Zaher managed to place twelfth in her field.

Just 16 years old, Zaher is expected to compete in the all-round along with Peterson, Coleman, and Jenny Diamond.

“I expect her to qualify (for regionals) in the all-round next year,” Coach Hughes said. “She did not get the opportunity to train with the team and was not routine ready when the semester started.”

Earlier in the season, during a meet at Seattle Pacific University, Zaher displayed a little of what is to come for Sac State gymnastics in the future, as she set a program-best record on the beam with a score of 9.925.

The Hornets finished the season ranked No. 40 in the nation and also recorded a program-best regional qualifying score of 194.07 before ending the season as the MPSF champions.

“I’m very pleased with the team being conference champions. We started slow and struggled a little in the beginning,” Hughes said. “But we showed what we are made of by improving meet after meet.”

Next year the Hornets are going to raise the stakes as they hope to have the entire team qualify for regional competition next year. The Hornets will continue to train four days a week in preparation for next season.