By Thomas Christian (@ThomasGoatnba) – Reporter
The San Jose State women’s gymnastics team headed to Sacramento for a four-team meet on Friday night. Also in the meet were Sacramento State, Texas Woman’s University and Alaska Anchorage.
Coming into the meet, gymnastics head coach Joanne Bowers said via Twitter, “it’s our grind time … we’re halfway through the season, we wanna keep improving on everything.” She added, “we’re focusing this week on getting enough rest, eating right, drinking lots of water, doing things that make you happy and fill up your cup.”
SJSU entered deep in midseason drudges, but one would not be able to tell by the way SJSU came out swinging, literally. The bars put SJSU out to an early lead, with Lauren MacPherson maneuvering to a meet-high score of 9.875. Alexa Solomon and Antonia Marquez followed closely behind, each with scores of 9.850, and Jaudai Lopes recorded a 9.825.
You could say they set a high bar for the rest of the evening.
Supporting their efforts was a strong showing on the high beam. Madison Kirsch led the way, strutting for another meet-high score for the Spartans at 9.875. Following close behind Kirsch was Jada Mazury, with a score of 9.825.
The competition could not keep the Spartans grounded as they dominated the floor routine competition. Teammates Cameron Kelperis and Lauren MacPherson scored a meet-high 9.875, and Jaudai Lopes and Carli Orcutt posted solid scores of 9.825 and 9.800, respectively.
Flat out flooring the judges all night, SJSU had one last event to prove they cleared the competition,the vault.
Butterflies may have been in the stomachs of this high-flying gymnast, but Lopes helped when she hurdled through the standings with an almost unheard-of score of 9.925. She leapfrogged Kirsch as the meet’s top vaulter, with Kirsch still submitting a solid score of 9.900. MacPherson followed that up with a score of 9.825.
In all-around scoring, Lopes led all gymnasts with a score of 39.350. MacPherson finished second with a score of 39.200, and Mazury snagged fourth with her score of 39.100.
SJSU had a meet-high score in every category and had the top combined score, completely separating from the competition.
The Spartans will return home for a head-to-head meet against UC Davis Sunday at 2 p.m. in scorching-hot form.
