Hornets gymnastics head coach Kim Hughes said the team needs to make improvements on minor problems and emulate excellence in practice routines and in competition to further advance in the Western Athletic Conference.

The Hornets placed fourth last year in The Western Athletic Conference championship, and Hughes said he has high expectations for each member of the team; citing small improvements to polish routines in the four events: floor, vault, bars and beam.

The most recent meet for the Hornets earned them a triumph over San Jose State on Jan. 27 by scoring 194.750-193.000 with performances on vault and bars by senior Emiko Ono which helped bring the team to first place.

Hughes said the team has to gather themselves and have confidence in their skills. He said the girls are able to practice and train well, but does not carry the same performance caliber in meets.

“In competition, either nerves or the tension of the meet gets the best of them,” Hughes said.

“Mostly minor details, such as form breaks, landing mistakes. If we improve on those things, our score should improve by at least a point,” Hughes said.

The team consists of 16 members: Five freshmen, six sophomores, two juniors and three seniors, and Hughes said he has strong faith in them.

Freshman Kalliah McCartney, who competes in all four of events, said the team has been improving little by little with each meet.

She said consistency and details are what needs to be improved by the team to further excel in competition.

“Details need to be tight, clean and neat to show off routines,” McCartney said.

“Our beam team is especially promising, it is one thing that Sac State has been known for,” said junior Cayla Beutler. “To do what we are capable of doing and not be overshadowed by people who are not necessarily better than us is the team’s goal.”

McCartney competed against San Jose State on Jan. 27 in the Nest and placed first in the beam event with a score of 9.875, helping Sac State take first place overall.

Beutler, who competes in floor and beam for the Hornets, said the meets so far this season have shown steady improvement, but she hopes to see faster improvement for the upcoming meets.

“I want us to take a leap toward success, which we are very capable of doing,” Beutler said, “I feel like everyone has been working hard and making the corrections they need to and our consistency has improved.”

Beutler said her goals for this season are to stay on the beam and for the team to win the WAC Championships.

“Each meet we have improved our score. Unfortunately, we are still having some issues with keeping on the equipment, especially the balance beam,” Hughes said.

Despite the minor struggles, Hughes said with each meet the team has been steadily improving on performing and the team is ready to make large jumps forward in progress.

WAC Specialist of the Week of Jan. 23, junior Kailey Hansen, scored a career high at the Boise State meet and has averaged 9.7 on floor routines for the Hornets this season. She said the team has been doing well compared to last season.

“We have improved with every meet but we still have not reached our potential; we are a really strong team and we just have to put it all together for the next few meets,” Hansen said.

She said the team needs to have more confidence in itself. She shared the same concern as Hughes and said their practices have been going well, but do not carry onto the competitions.

“I definitely think it’s all about the confidence, because we do great in practice and we just need to do the same thing in meets: getting confident and consistent,” Hansen said.

“When I go to a meet it is a whole different ballgame when compared to practice,” Hansen said. “My coaches have been trying to put pressure on me during practice and it has been helping a lot.”

Hansen performed against San Jose State on Jan. 27 to placed first in floor, with a score of 9.900 and scored 9.750 in vault, contributing to the Hornets’ victory.

Junior Nicole Meiller competes in the vault and bars for the Hornets. She said the team’s performance for the past meets have been sufficient, but need small tweaking for improvement.

“The team has a lot of potential and we can only go up from here,” Meiller said.

She said the team’s strongest event is the vault competition. With half of the team training for the event, the scoring has been the highest it has ever been in the times she has been with the team.

Meiller also said the team needs to improve on its confidence and enter each competition with the same mindset as practice.

“This team has a lot of talent, they have a lot of determination and the spirit to want to be better,” Hughes said. “And I feel once we put together four events in one meet, this team could prove to be a really good team.”