On Saturday, senior Marcy Miller and freshman Anna Shumaker were going someplace new.
The duo traveled to Corvallis, Ore. to compete as individuals in the NCAA Regionals. Both Miller and Shumaker participated in this prestigious meet for the first time in their respective careers.
Despite this fact, the duo performed well.
Miller, who rotated with eventual second-place finisher Nebraska, finished sixth overall in the all-around with a score of 38.775. The Huntington Beach, Calif. native opened with a 9.725 on balance beam then scored a 9.750 on floor exercise. She finished with a 9.650 on both vault and uneven bars, finishing her season having hit 45 out of 48 routines for the year. Miller finished the year with an average score of 38.631 in the all-around.
Shumaker rotated with Michigan State at the NCAA Regionals, and took 17th place on the vault with a score of 9.785.
This is the fourth time in the past five years UC Davis has sent multiple individual qualifiers to a NCAA Regional. Though the UC Davis individuals placed high, they still had jitters before the meet.
“Competing on beam is both the most dangerous and nerve-racking,” Miller said. “You only have four inches of space to do all of these flips and tricks.”
Despite her early apprehensions, the balance beam was Miller’s second highest-scoring event at the NCAA Regionals.
Shumaker has also had an impressive season. The Alameda, Calif. native landed a score of 9.750 or better on eight of her 11 vault performances for the season. She also earned All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honors in the vault. She led the MPSF with a regional-qualifying score of 9.780.
Coach John Lavallee was proud of his two gymnasts for qualifying this far.
“It is a very difficult accomplishment to get to the NCAA Regional as an individual,” Lavallee said. “I think both of these athletes have done an outstanding job throughout the season.”
CALEIGH GUOYNES can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
