Teams: UC Davis vs. Cal State Fullerton vs. California vs. San Jose State
Record: Aggies 9-6; Titans 4-10; Golden Bears, 4-10; Spartans, 11-3
Where: Haas Pavilion – Berkeley, Calif.
When: Sunday at 2 p.m.
Who to watch: UC Davis is coming off a season-best 48.550 team score in uneven bars, and as usual, the event begins with sophomore Lida Gehlen.
The Sun City, Calif. tied for second place with 9.800 and leads the team this season with seven wins on bars.
With a regional qualifying score of 9.820, Gehlen is currently the West Region’s 12th-best gymnast in the event.
Did you know? If the season were to end today, Gehlen would travel to Oregon for bars at the NCAA West Regional Championships. She would be the only gymnast to do so who isn’t on one of the nation’s top-36 ranked teams.
Preview: After scoring their three highest team scores of the season in their last three meets, the Aggies will be looking to take the next step in Berkeley.
Sunday will be a test for us to raise our level and show what we can do, said head coach John Lavalee. There are two teams, Fullerton and Cal, who are just ahead of us. For us to get the job done against them would really be big.
In their last meet Mar. 7, the Aggies scored a 192.625, finishing ahead of Seattle Pacific (190.075) and behind Sacramento State (195.250) and Cal (193.700).
As a group, we struggled on floor and beam, Lavalee said. But it’s encouraging from that standpoint to do what we did, to come out with a 192.625 despite not having our best meet.
Sophomore Tanya Ho led the way, posting season-best scores on balance beam (9.675), bars (9.775) and the floor exercise (9.725) to earn a career-best 38.875 in the all-around.
For her high marks, Ho was named Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Gymnast of the Week for the third time this season.
As a team, UC Davis will also have the opportunity to avenge losses from earlier this season.
The Aggies fell to the Golden Bears on Jan. 11 and Mar. 7, the Spartans on Jan. 18 and Feb. 22 and the Titans on Feb. 8.
We’ve done well on [vault], and we’re also very strong on bars, and we’re hoping to play that out, said assistant coach Ron Manara. If we can start on those two events, we could do very well
