The UC Davis women’s gymnastics team opened strong at the five-team NorCal Preview in front of an audience of 924 at Sacramento State on Jan. 5. UC Davis finished fourth while posting its all-time high for a season opener with a total of 193.450 points.
Stanford won the meet with a 194.825, followed by UC Berkeley, who came in a close second with 194.650, while the hosting Hornets placed third with a score of 194.400, a school record for an opening meet. San Jose State came in fifth place with 193.325.
Sophomore Stephanie Stamates led UC Davis on both the floor and vault events. Stamates shared the individual win on floor exercise, matching a score of 9.850 with Alicia Asturias of UC Berkeley, Julia Greer of San Jose State and Taylor Rice of Stanford. The Alamo, Calif. native also headed UC Davis on vault with a 9.725 and added a 9.675 on beam.
The Aggie gymnasts opened with a 48.625 on floor due to the efforts of junior Kala DeFrancesco, whose score of 9.750 was followed by Stamates’ 9.850 to close the rotation.
The vault squad scored a total of 48.100, with senior Anna Shumaker putting up a score of 9.700 in the anchor spot.
The uneven bars crew scored 48.425, due to the 9.700 point contribution from junior Lisa Wiktorski and a 9.800 from sophomore Dani Jundal, who led UC Davis on uneven bars.
Junior Tiana Montell and senior Madeline Kennedy followed, opening with consecutive 9.775 scores to start off the beam crew and finish with a 48.300.
This meet also marked several career debuts for Aggie gymnasts young and old. Taylor Baron scored a 9.825 on the balance beam, while also competing on floor for the first time since her junior year in high school. Katy Nogaki, after suffering from a knee injury, competed in her first meet in two years and scored a 9.625 on vault. Freshman Yonni Michovska scored a 9.625 on uneven bars.
UC Davis faces Alaska Anchorage for its home opener on Jan. 13 at 7 p.m.
