As gymnastics gets ready for competition to start next month, this team has a unique story that sounds like it was taken out of a sports movie; three of the four seniors this season––Kalliah McCartney, Kayla Wonderly and Dallas Smith––have not only been competing together as Hornets for four years, they have been friends on and off of the mat since they were six years old.

All three spent 10 years training at Naydenov Gymnastics in Vancouver, Washington before McCartney and Wonderly moved to Multnomah Athletic Club for their final two years of club gymnastics prior to college.

The move did not affect other parts of their lives though as they graduated from CAM High School in Battle Ground, Washington and received an associate degree from Clark College in Vancouver, Washington while still in high school.

“We used to joke a lot when we were little that we’d end up going to college together and it actually ended up happening by pure chance,” McCartney said. “It made the transition to Sac State so much easier.”

For McCartney, the move to Multnomah Athletic Club ended up revitalizing her love for the sport and she began to pursue a way to get a full-ride scholarship in gymnastics. She was the first of the three to commit to Sac State after being recruited.

“Kayla and I were looking at a few different schools at the time and an old assistant coach came to talk us about Sac State,” McCartney said. “I fell in love with what she was saying about the gym and started recruiting me and Kayla.”

Wonderly and Smith followed suit and committed to Sac State. While they did not plan on joining together in college, they are glad it ended up that way.

“Getting to go through all the experiences together with every stage of our lives has really helped our gymnastics and made us better people,” Smith said. “They’re my best friends and I couldn’t ask for anything more to be able to go through college with them.”

Having that past connection has made them better gymnasts, said Wonderly, because they know how to push each other and how to help each other improve.

“With gymnastics, I’ve seen them since they were little and know their games,” Wonderly said. “When someone was upset, we know how to comfort each other in a way someone else wasn’t able to.”

Smith, Wonderly and McCartney are primed to have big seasons in leadership roles for the Hornets as Wonderly and Smith qualified for regionals last season and McCartney is coming off an appearance at nationals.

Smith as a second-year captain and McCartney as a first- year captain for this season, are excited about the potential of the team.

“As seniors, it gives us the extra motivation to go the extra mile,” Smith said. “We want to take advantage of our last season with this team.”

McCartney figures to make a major impact as an all-around gymnast this season, especially as she is more healthy this season. She set school records throughout last season, with the most impressive coming at regionals where she placed 6th and scored 39.275 as an all-around.

Wonderly has excelled on beam since she arrived at Sac State which culminated in her first regionals berth on the event. She set personal bests last season on beam with a score of 9.850 and on bars with a score of 9.775

Smith will continue to be one of the better athletes on floor for the season, especially after she had career best performances last year.

She was on the floor for all 12 meets last season and scored a career best of 9.875 and seven scores of at least 9.800. Her appearance at regionals on floor was the first of her career.

Coach Kim Hughes, who enters his 37th year of coaching, sees the senior leadership as one of the strengths of the team and something they will be relying on.

“Freshmen and seniors often do not have a lot in common, but I ask them to be sure they are interacting well with each other,” Hughes said. “The senior leaders are doing an excellent job of leading by example and showing the freshman the ropes.”

The team lost six seniors from last season, but are still confident that they will qualify for a regionals berth. Wonderly said this season will be competitive for the Hornets as they added seven talented freshmen to their roster.

Hughes believes that consistency will be the only thing that holds this team back.

“In our first meet, we got our highest first meet score in school history,” Hughes said. “We were kind of inconsistent until conference, where we dominated. We would have been a contender with a more consistent season.”