By Levern Johnson (@inkedjournalist) – Spear Reporter
With the Spartans’ season heating up, the possibility of making school history and securing a top-25 ranking by the season’s end is becoming increasingly realistic.
Just a month into their season, the Spartans have held the 26th and 29th positions in the NCAA Women’s Gymnastics all-around ranking.
The Spartans look to continue their dominance from last season over UC Davis this Sunday, Feb. 5 at 2 p.m. as they head to Aggies territory.
In last season’s first head-to-head meeting on Feb. 6, 2022, at UC Davis, Junior Lauren Macpherson scored a career-high of 9.8750 in her floor routine and finished with an all-around score of 39.3250 to bring home the first victory against the Aggies.
In the follow-up meeting on Feb. 27, 2022, at San Jose State, Senior Jada Mazury and Junior Jaudai Lopes struck career highs of their own that kept the streak against the Aggies going. Mazury scored a 9.950 on the bars, while Lopes brought home a 9.875.
Spartans coming into the new season
The Spartans are off to a fresh start after two 1st place finishes while averaging a season all-around score of 195.4167 after taking down Sacramento State and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in a tri-meet this past Sunday and beating Air Force Jan 16 with a final score of 195.1500-194.1500.
But don’t expect this meet to be a cakewalk. The Aggies are coming off their best performance of the season after finishing 2nd of 3 in two previous meets.
Last Sunday, the Aggies finished with a season-high all-around score of 196.1750 against Air Force and the University of Alaska-Anchorage to bring their season all-around average to 194.4625 through four competitions.
UC Davis Sophomore Keanna Abraham scored two wins with a top score of 9.875 on the vault and floor routine, with the Aggies finishing with the two top finishers in each category.
The Spartans will have their work cut out for them as they travel to Aggies territory on Feb. 5 @ 2 p.m.