The air that junior Binta Coleman gets when making a tumbling pass on the floor or flying over the vault would make most basketball players physically ill with envy. And on Sunday she was Sac State’s saving grace against Cal State Fullerton, winning the all-round competition with a score of 38.950.

Unfortunately, her spectacular performance could not save the rest of her teammates, who dropped their third meet of the season, 193.125-191.550.

“I felt my team helped me out a lot because I was actually pretty tired in the beginning,” Coleman said. “My team, they totally brought me up and they gave me all their energy so that I was able to do all my routines and do them pretty well.”

The Hornets came into the meet after two-straight wins over Alaska Anchorage. Knowing that they needed to improve their overall team score to somewhere around 194 for a regional qualification at the end of the season, the Hornets needed to hit all of their routines.

After performing cleanly in their second meet in Alaska, Sac State could not transfer that success to Hornet gym on Sunday afternoon. Two Hornets lost their grip on the uneven bars, while two also lost their footing on the beam.

One of those who experienced a hard fall from the bars was freshman Kimiye Narasaki. With a potential season-ending injury to senior Toni Peterson and sophomore Stephanie Aeder forced to medical redshirt because of surgery she needs for her injury, the overwhelming number of freshman, 11, have already begun to make their presence felt.

“You see a lot of potential in all of (the freshmen),” coach Kim Hughes said. “It’s just going to be a training period. A lot of sports don’t expect a lot of their freshmen, and we do. We actually think that the freshmen often times can come in right off the bat and compete for us. And they’ve proven that.”

In fact, Narasaki’s fall was very uncharacteristic. The freshman has stepped right into the spotlight to help this team’s hopes for regional qualification. Narasaki was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the week on Jan. 19 after scores of 9.875 and 9.9 on the vault in Alaska. She ranked first in the conference on the vault and third on the beam. Two weeks ago, in her first collegiate all-around competition, she took fourth place with a score of 37.050.

On Sunday, Coleman was dominant in every event. She placed first in the vault with a score of 9.775, while teammates freshman Trista Condren and Narasaki tied for second with scores of 9.65. Sophomore Melony Greer placed first on the bars with a score of 9.775 and Coleman placed third with a 9.725. Coleman then tied for first with Cal State Fullerton’s Brittany Hoffman on the floor with scores of 9.750.

“Binta was outstanding,” Hughes said. It’s really remarkable when you see an all-arounder have to hit all four events. And hit at the caliber of skills and the difficulty she is doing is very high.”

Sac State will prepare for their next meet on Feb. 16 at home against San Jose State. In their first meet of the year the Hornets fell to the Spartans, 191.3-187.275.