By Madyson Montoya (@MadysonMontoya):
Fourth time’s the charm for the Sacramento State Hornets as San Jose State gymnastics lost to Sac State for the first time this season in the state capitol. The tri-meet was held at the home of the Hornets with Seattle Pacific there as well.
The Spartans have faced the Hornets three times previous to last night’s meet and have came out on top each time. SJSU did leave with some career bests and good practice even though they went home in second place.
Going into the capitol with momentum from last week’s season-best score, the team started out on bars. Senior Kaitlin Won came out in second with a score of 9.825. The bars were a tough place to start as the next highest score for SJSU was Junior Ellie Pascoe-Long in fifth place.
Sophomore Chelsey Andrada stepped up in the next rotation on the beam with a career-best of 9.875, putting her in a first place tie with a competitor from Sacramento. Junior Stephanie Relova was not far behind with a score of 9.800.
The Spartans then headed to the floor, a strong apparatus for the team. The competition was hot as sophomore Taylor Chan finished finished with a score of 9.850 putting her in a three-way tie with two competitors from Sacramento State. Pascoe-Long was right behind her in fourth place with a score of 9.800.
The team was hungry going into the final rotation on the vault. Junior Kaprece Nadonza scored a career-best of 9.825 and finished out on top in vault. Chan was right behind her with a score of 9.800.
Following was a four-way tie among three Spartans and one Hornet. The team finished first and achieved the sixth-highest vault score in school history.
All-around gymnasts Won and Chan finished third and fourth behind two Hornet competitors. Both SJSU all-around members were less than a point behind first place.
The Spartans missed the first place win by little over a point, but beat Seattle Pacific by over five points. The team won’t see the Hornets again until the MPSF Championships at the end of March.
SJSU will host a home meet versus UC Davis next Friday at 7 p.m.