By Madyson Montoya — Gymnastics Beat Writer
San Jose State’s gymnastics team traveled up to the Capitol to compete in the NorCal Classic, where it finished in the lower half.
Although the team took third out of four teams, SJSU had a good first showing as it was less than two points behind first-place Stanford.
First up for the Spartans was beam. All-around senior Ellie Pascoe-Long competed her first beam routine in her college career and tied for fifth with fellow teammate Chelsey Andrada.
Next up was floor, where the first-place performer was none other than junior Taylor Chan with a score of 9.900. Five other Spartans competed floor and were all able to score above 9.5.
The third rotation brought up vault where sophomore Madilyn Probst competed her first time in the event at the college level.
The shining Spartan of the vault was Pascoe-Long with a 9.775 — good for third place. Not far behind was Chan and senior Josalyn Ray with a 9.700.
SJSU finished the meet with bars where senior Stephanie Relova led the team with a 9.675 fifth-place finish.
The bars brought success for freshmen Carli Orcutt as she scored a 9.650 in her first collegiate meet.
As for the all-around portion, Chan was able to accomplish an astonishing second-place finish for her first meet of the season.
She was less than a point behind Stanford’s Kyla Bryant. Pascoe-Long finished fourth in her first meet competing all-around.
Individually, the Spartans did well but the scores weren’t high enough to compete with Stanford and UC Davis.
This first meet definitely showed that experience is key as Relova, Chan and Pascoe-Long are known for their skills in the events they placed well in.
The Spartans have a week to prepare for the next meet in Idaho against the Boise State Broncos. It’ll be all about fine tuning the little details to ensure a better performance.
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