Although Kailey Hansen is no stranger to the winner’s circle, she did experience something on Friday night that she never had before: Hansen scored her career high on floor and earned the best score of the meet.

Scoring a 9.875 not only helped push her team past the Aggies onto its first two-meet win streak of the season, but also proved Hansen’s worth to a team that did not know what to expect when she transferred to Sac State from the University of Washington as a redshirt freshman.

Now seven meets into the season, Hansen has given her teammates and coaches a glimpse of what she could accomplish in the four years she plans to spend as a Hornet.

“When you score a 9.875, that means one of the judges is giving you a 9.9,” said head coach Kim Hughes. “So that’s obviously a difference maker, one of the counting scores was a 9.575, she’s four-tenths higher than that and that’s a significant impact to your team score when you have people helping you out like that.”

Hansen has now reached a certain plateau but anything below a 10.0 can still be improved upon, and she knows it. Hughes can only speak positively of Hansen’s work ethic during practice.

“It was really good to know that one judge gave me a 9.9,” Hansen said. “That’s what every gymnast strives for, if not a 10, so it was good to know that I was really close to a 10 only one-tenth away. With a little more practice I could even go higher.”

This success story is a polar opposite of the story of Hansen’s time at the University of Washington, where she spent the 2009-10 school year. Hansen never competed in the 2010 season, making that her redshirt season, but she never planned it to be that way.

In her time in Seattle, Hansen ran into difficulties. She struggled to come back from an injury she had incurred even before she started working with the Huskies, but even more difficult for her were the struggles she encountered with her teammates.

“In Washington it was really different,” Hansen said. “The team atmosphere was a little bit more negative and competitive with each other. We weren’t as family-oriented; it wasn’t as happy. Our team here is very happy, very spirited, we all smile a lot. We all love to laugh. I grew up in a very happy environment so to go somewhere where it was more negative didn’t work out with me.”

Hansen found that style of coaching and attitude in Washington detrimental to her performance as an athlete. She knew it was best for her to compete somewhere else, where the atmosphere of her team as a whole would be more familiar.

“It was hard for me to be myself in that environment. It wasn’t me,” Hansen said, “It wasn’t my place to be, where up here I’m able to be myself and be very supportive and have fun while doing gymnastics.”

Since the move, Hansen has had an impact on the Hornets’ scores. Her career high on the floor against Utah State was a key factor in propelling the Hornets past the Utah State Aggies in their 1.325-point victory.

“She has been an instant impact,” Hughes said. “Her biggest impact was her second meet, she averaged a 9.775, 9.775, and a 9.825, our goal is always to get a 9.7 and above.”

In midseason of 2010, the Hornets’ coaching staff was surprised but excited to see that Hansen was interested in competing at Sac State. But even when they were offering her a scholarship, they were not completely sure what they were getting.

“We knew she was capable (of having an instant impact), but the fact that she didn’t compete at Washington meant that things were kind of up in the air,” said head coach Kim Hughes. “But of course they did their homework to recruit her in the first place so we were happy to get her and see what she could do for us.”

In the end, Hansen’s contributions have been vital to the team’s recent success, especially after a start that was uncharacteristic of a program that has claimed multiple league titles in the last decade.

“Two back-to-back wins, after starting out so rough, having problems with injuries, not consistent performances, to have another night where we hit consistently is critical for the team to continue their performances,” Hughes said.

Since their meet against Utah State, the Hornets have extended their win streak to three, after a trip to Southern California where they beat CSU Fullerton. Hansen did not surpass her mark on floor, but posted counting scores in vault, balance beam and floor.

You can reach AJ Taylor at [email protected]