By Marissa Scott (@marissascotttt ):
In a night filled with some of the best performances all season, San Jose State gymnastics came out on the losing end with its season-high 194.5 points in its meet against Boise State and Iowa State.
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation’s (MPSF) No. 14-ranked Broncos took home first place, scoring 196.4 points, while the No. 23 Cyclones grabbed second with a score of 195.725.
“Those are obviously really good teams, but I think we held our own,” said head coach Wayne Wright after the meet. “In gymnastics, it’s not who you beat, so we go out there and try to beat ourselves. Every time we improve that means we are getting better and better.”
Despite the third place loss, SJSU had a phenomenal night of its own — passing personal records and taking home all-arounders.
Senior Katie Won took home the second place all-around title and beat her season all-around score of 39.1.
“Taking home second is pretty exciting,” Won said. “The fact that I still have room to improve and I did that well is pretty exciting for me.”
Shani Remme and Sandra Collantes of Boise State took home the first and third all-around titles, respectively.
Although the Spartans prove countlessly that bars are difficult for them, it was their highest scoring event of the night and they tied their season-high score with 48.775.
The Spartans fell below the Broncos, who placed first in the bars event with 49.225 and the Cyclones finished third with a score of 48.475.
Iowa State dominated the beam with a score of 49.225 as two gymnasts scored a season-best to end out on top of Boise State’s 48.55 and SJSU’s 48.2.
The beam did get the best of SJSU, however, as sophomore Taylor Chan took a big point loss after falling off the beam during her performance.
“Obviously when you fall, you are kind of bummed because nobody likes to fall,” Wright said. “I like to teach the athletes that when beam is done, beams done. You have another event.”
Chan picked herself up and tied her season-best score of 9.875 on her floor routine.
Because two SJSU gymnasts stepped off the mat during their performances, they placed third in the floor event with 48.725. Iowa State finished with an even 49.0 while the Broncos bested that with a 49.375.
Junior Ellie Pascoe-Long beat her career-best score on the vault with 9.875 points and surpassed her teammate Kaprece Nadonza’s 9.825 for the season high score in the MPSF conference.
Personal records were set during the vault performance for the Spartans, but the Broncos ended up on top with 49.250 and the Cyclones followed close with 49.025.
The Spartans’ expectations weren’t high facing nationally ranked teams, but they came out with their season-high score and some personal achievements.
SJSU will head just up the freeway for its next meet to face MPSF fourth-ranked Sacramento State and No. 5 Seattle Pacific on Feb. 16.
