By Levern Johnson (@inkedjournalist) – Spear Reporter
Jaudai Lopes on beam. Titus Wilkinson – The Spear
Coming into Sunday’s tri-meet against Sacramento State and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, SJSU gymnastics held the 29th-ranked all-around spot in the NCAA rankings, sitting two positions away from the school’s highest-ever ranking.
The Spartans started the season suffering a tough loss on Jan 14. at Stanford, who knocked them out of regionals in Seattle last season.
This time the Cardinals escaped with a narrow victory over the Spartans with a final score of 196.10-195.85. But just a couple days after the Spartans bounced back by taking down Air Force with a finishing score of 195.25-194.15.
In the Spartans Sunday home opener, Lauren Macpherson and Jada Mazury competed in all the events for the Spartans alongside Jaudai Lopes, with Lopes kicking the event off with the highest score of 9.850 on the vault and finishing with the highest all-around score for the night of 39.1250.
Irene Milanez – The Spear
But it was who Lopes scored no lower than 9.700, in any event, helping bring home the tri-meet victory for the Spartans.
Macpherson scored a 9.750 on the vault while Mazury brought in a score of 9.900 on the bars. Senior Emma Milne scored team highs of 9.925 on the beam and bars.
Coach Joanne Bowers expressed how the team was able to meet another impressive mark on the bars as the Spartans scoring 49.325.
“We had one of the best outings ever, tied for 2nd highest this season,” Bowers said.
After a successful night, SJSU gymnastics looks to continue with its success as it faces the UC Davis Aggies on Feb. 5 @ 2 p.m. and continues on their path to the school first ever top 25 finish.
