The Sacramento State gymnastics team fell short of what it had hoped for this season. After entering the Haas Pavilion for its second consecutive NCAA West Regional last Saturday in Berkeley, the team failed to meet its expectations, falling to sixth place.

It’s a scientific fact that what goes up, must come down, and after hitting a season-high of 195.275, the Hornets had nowhere else to go but down, although coach Kim Hughes didn’t think Sac State would finish sixth with a score of 191.725.

“We peaked at the WAC Championships. When you reach a pinnacle your body kind of drops off. You (just) don’t expect it to drop that much,” Hughes said. “This was (a result) of pure fatigue.”

Hughes said the team had been working to be the best it could be for the WAC, which was proven after the team won its second conference championship in a row.

Not only were the Hornets tired from a long season, they were also missing junior Tiffany Bass, who left Sac State without her three consistent scores. Hughes said Bass had strained stomach muscles.

“We had to replace her in three events,” Hughes said.

He said the three who contended in Bass’ spots had competed before, just not at the level of the NCAA Western Regional. Hughes said the coaching staff gave the Hornets a few days rest after the meet in Utah, and then trained for one-and-one-half weeks for the regional.

With a week to go, freshman Eryn Stubblefield and junior co-captain Melissa Genovese said they were shooting for fourth, maybe even third place, at the regional.

Junior co-captain Nicole Giao, being part of the team that went to the regional in 2006, knew that this time was going to be more serious since the team had just won its second Western Athletic Conference Championship in a row.

“Last year, we let go and had fun,” Giao said a week prior to the regional. “After winning WAC (for the second year), it makes our team more legit. People know we are good. We have to go and compete. It’s not just for fun.”

After the onset of the floor competition, it didn’t seem like the tournament was going to be too much fun.

The Hornets had three gymnasts tally four out-of-bound penalties, which deducts an automatic one-tenth of a point from the score for every step outside the white tape, which outlines the floor.

Senior Courtney Hibler said that any fall on any event results in an automatic five-tenths (half a point) deduction from the score.

After hitting all 24 routines in Cedar City, Utah, for the WAC Championship, one might think that the gymnasts wouldn’t be too excited about the 47.85 they received after missing three floor routines.

Senior Sara Williams said Sac State went on to post an average vault score, recorded a fall on the beam and a mishap on the bars, which resulted in its fifth-lowest score of the season.

“(The team) felt the pressure, but no one gave up,” Genovese said. “We stuck together and did what we could.”

Williams said it was hard to end her gymnastic career on this note, but she had a good season.

“This has been the season of my life,” she said.

Sophomore Marina Borisova, who had hoped to qualify for the NCAA Championships as an individual in the all-around or a single event, had a disaster on the bars. As she was switching from the high bar to the low bar, her feet dragged across the floor, causing her to lose concentration. Hibler said that Borisova dragging her feet didn’t cause her to be unbalanced on a physical standpoint, but maybe emotionally. “That’s really unlike her,” Hibler said. “Marina never does that.”

She attempted to continue, since she only had the dismount left, but nearly crashed into the wires to her left.

Assistant coach Randy Solorio rushed to her side and embraced her, while a tearful Hornet knew her chances to go the Salt Lake City for the Championships were over.

She reapplied chalk and pulled herself together to finish her dismount, but people in the stands could see the disappointment on her face as she sighed and fell into Solorio’s arms.

Borisova finished 41 with a score of 8.6.

The coaching staff kept a close eye on the emotional Borisova as she only had minutes before she would have to run onto a springboard and flip onto a four-inch beam to perform her final routine.

Out of six gymnasts, Borisova was fifth to go, and she made a valiant comeback finish with a smile and a score of 9.675 on the beam.

Borisova declined to comment after the meet.

The Hornets season ended, but not without the team breaking a few milestones and individual records.

The Hornets won their second WAC Championship in a row and traveled to the NCAA West Regional for the second consecutive year, a first for the gymnastics program at Sac State.

Genovese, who tied for sixth on the beam (9.825) at the regional, was named the beam champion (9.9) at the WAC Championships and Borisova tied former Hornet Binta Coleman for the No. 1 spot for all-around score twice, with a 39.350.

Six Hornets were named to All-WAC teams: Borisova was named to the first-team all-WAC in the all-around, beam and floor and to the second team for vault.

Genovese was named to the first team on beam and second for floor.

Junior Alexis Tsurumoto was named to second team for bars.

Bass, freshmen Lissa Zamolo and Stubblefield were named to first team on the beam to round out the honors for Sac State.

The Sac State team even shattered the school’s beam team score record, and conference record at the WAC Championships. The Hornets scored a 49.325. Karyn Gilbert can be reached at [email protected]