Gymnastics’ season-high score not enough to contend

Senior+Kailey+Hansen+sets+up+for+her+beam+dismount+Friday+against+Cal+and+San+Jose+State+in+The+Nest.%C2%A0

Senior Kailey Hansen sets up for her beam dismount Friday against Cal and San Jose State in The Nest. 

State Hornet Staff

Sacramento State gymnastics’ season-high all-around score was hardly enough as UC Berkeley’s totally dominated the competition tonight.

In a blowout fashion, Cal led the competition to a 196.725-195.725-194.900 finish – San Jose State in second and Sac State in third – as the Hornets welcomed the two teams to The Nest for its breast cancer awareness meet.

The Hornets have not scored over a 194.000 since their first meet when they marked a 194.400, which happened to be against San Jose State and Cal.

Sac State head coach Kim Hughes said it was about time the team got back in the swing of things, even with some mistakes along the way.

“We wanted to get back to where we started, but we still had a lot of little misses,” Hughes said. “We had girls hit the bars with there feet, very few vaults that were landed well, so it’s those little things that kept us out of the meet.”

Freshman Jesse Williams competed on all four events tonight for the first time as a Hornet. Sac State head coach Kim Hughes said Williams is a standout and she earned her spot as an all-around competitor.

“It was so much fun,” Williams said. “It kind of takes out some of the nerves because I don’t have time to get nervous. I just go, go, go.”

“We’re very excited to finally have her up to that level where she can compete on all four events and do well,” Hughes said.

Some lineup changes were made tonight and Hughes said it was because of inconsistency in the previous meets.

“We had people who were falling in meets and people who were hitting in practice, so we ended up making some lineup changes.” Hughes said. “That’s based on just repetitions and hopefully getting them to prove themselves more often.”

The Golden Bears’ swept the score boards as they put up three 9.925 performances; two coming from Serena Leong on vault and floor.

Senior Kailey Hansen returned to the floor lineup last week at Seattle Pacific after missing four meets due to a recurring knee injury. Hansen’s second week back looked refreshing as she posted a season-high 9.9, which was good for second place.

“I’m still trying to get rid of my nerves from being out of floor for a little while, but today I just wanted to have fun,” Hansen said. “I realized I only have a few more meets until I’m done with my gymnastics career and I think when I have fun I do my best.”

As a team, Sac State set a new season-high floor score of 49.075 with four Hornets scoring a 9.800 or above – Katie Osaki, Smith, Williams and Hansen.

The Hornets will resume competition and meet back up with Cal in Berkeley, Calif. on Feb. 22 along with Washington.

Jillian Kweller can be reached on Twitter @JillianKweller