Finishing the season with their strongest performance of the year, the Sacramento State gymnastics team finished second at the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) Championships yesterday with a score of 195.350. In the six-team meet, Sacramento State defeated Southern Utah, San Jose State, Cal State Fullerton and Utah State. Boise State won the WAC trophy with a score of 196.525. The final performance had head coach Kim Hughes feeling great, despite not having Sacramento State end up with the WAC trophy. “Ecstatic, I mean our highest score so far this year has only been 194.7 and we just got a 195. So I can’t be happier to have them peak at the right time and do the best job of the year at the conference championship,” Hughes said. Starting the meet on the balance beam, the Hornets recorded three scores of 9.800 or higher and finished with a team score of 48.575. Moving onto floor exercise for the second event, the Hornets shined as all five recorded scores were at least 9.750. Marina Borisova led the team with a score of 9.875 with a dance routine that had James Bond music playing throughout the Hornets Nest. Borisova ended the routine with a pose using her hand as a gun and blowing the tip of her finger as if she had fired a perfect shot. “It was my original floor routine when I was a freshmen and I was successful with it so I decided I wanna bring it back and make a surprise,” Borisova said. The Hornets scored a combined 49.025 on the floor exercise, the highest score for the event all year. The record total was also the highest scoring event of the night for Sacramento State. Following the floor exercise was the vault, where the Hornets continued to thrive. Sacramento State scored a combined 49.000, led by Alycia Chan’s score of 9.900. It marked the first time Chan has ever gotten a 9.900 on the vault. “Well I stuck it, I didn’t take any steps so there wasn’t much to deduct from so that was really exciting. I’ve been waiting a long time to do that,” Chan said. Amanda Blauvelt also set a personal record on the vault wish a score of 9.775. Sacramento State ended its season on the uneven bars, led by Amber Basgall’s 9.900. Basgall’s career at Sacramento State ended with her setting her personal best on the uneven bars and averaging 9.850 in three events in her final meet. “It feels great, it’s about time,” Basgall said of her performance on the uneven bars. Basgall’s record night led her to the top of the podium in the awards ceremony for the event. “I’m so proud of Amber and so exciting to think that in her last meet ever at Sac State that she’s the uneven bar champion. “That is just, you know, what a great way to finish your career and I’m really proud of her for that,” Hughes said.

Mitchell Wilson can be reached at [email protected]

This video was filmed and edited by Nick Hunte