GYMNASTICS RETURNS TO ACTION ON SUNDAY AFTERNOON AT #3 CAL, AGAINST #25 STANFORD

Meet will be the final regular season contest for the Hornets

OPENING PASS

The Sacramento State gymnastics team will close the regular season with a Sunday matinee at Cal which will also feature Stanford. The meet is scheduled to begin at 2 p.m. from Haas Pavilion.
All three teams competed on Friday night and will have a quick turnaround to get ready for Sunday. Cal had the luxury of competing at home while Sacramento State was in Seattle and Stanford in Salt Lake City.
Links to live stats and a video stream for this week's meet can be found on hornetsports.com.

OPPONENT PREVIEW

Cal is currently ranked third in the national NQS standings. The Golden Bears have posted an NQS of 198.055 with a high of 198.550 this season. The team downed San Jose State and UC Davis on Friday night behind a score of 198.500.
Dating back to 1992, Cal leads the all-time series, 29-9. The Golden Bears have won the last 15 meetings with Sacramento State last victory coming on Feb. 6, 2011 in Berkeley. Justin Howell and Liz Crandall-Howell serve as co-head coaches of the team.
Stanford finished third in a three-team meet hosted by Utah on Friday night. The Cardinal tallied 196.500 which left them nearly two points shy of No. 5 Utah and over a point ahead of Utah State. Stanford is currently ranked 25th with an NQS of 196.615.
Tabitha Yim is in her seventh season leading the team. Stanford holds a 20-1-1 lead in the all-time series. The Hornets' lone win came at the NorCal Classic hosted by UC Davis on Jan. 9, 2017.

A LOOK AT LATEST ACTION

The Sacramento State gymnastics team continued its scoring surge in March as the team totaled 195.350 for its second-highest total of the year on Friday night. Host Washington, which entered the week ranked 27th nationally, won the meet at 197.175. BYU scored 196.750 to place second and Southern Utah was third at 196.525.
Sacramento State opened the meet on floor and scored 48.750. The team was placed by Emma Morgenthaler and Grace Gilman who each scored 9.850 to tie for ninth overall.
The team finished both vault and bars with a team score of 48.800. On vault, Lutrel scored a career high 9.850 to tie for fifth place. Kara Houghton paced Sacramento State on bars with a 9.875 to finish in third place. Freshman Jillianne Lastra was second on the team at 9.825.
The team concluded the meet by scoring 49.000 on beam — the third time this season the team has broken 49. The Hornets counted five scores between 9.875 and 9.700, led by Lutrel.

HEADING INTO THE UNKNOWN

For the second consecutive meet, Sacramento State's highest event score came on beam. A week after scoring 49.025 against Alaska Anchorage, the Hornets totaled 49.000 in the four-team meet at Washington to earn its third score of at least 49 points this season.
Only two others teams have had back-to-back 49-plus scores on beam in school history (2015, 2022). If Sacramento State is able to surpass the mark again on Sunday, this year's squad would be the first in program history to do in three consecutive meets.
The Hornets have used a team approach to get to the number this year. Sarah Lutrel's school-record tying 9.950 against Air Force is the only score of 9.9 or better this season. Instead, the Hornets have routinely counted five scores between 9.775 and 9.875. On Friday, Lutrel scored 9.875 and was followed by freshmen Mallory Barron and Athena Jones who each received a 9.825.
On the season, Lutrel has a team-best NQS of 9.835. Jones is second among Hornets at 9.800 while Morgenthaler (9.760), Grace Gilman (9.735) and Kara Houghton (9.735) complete the top five.

ANYTHING YOU CAN DO...

Sarah Lutrel and Emma Morgenthaler have competed as all-arounders in every meet this season and have posted nearly identical scores throughout the year. On Friday, the pair both totaled 39.100 to tie for third place in the meet.
This season, Lutrel has an NQS of 39.055 while Morgenthaler owns a 39.005. The pair are separated by just one spot in the national ranks with Lutrel 75th and Morgenthaler tied for 76th.

A LONG TIME COMING

Sacramento State will unveil a new training facility early in the 2024 season. The building, which is located on Folsom Blvd. and is within walking distance of campus, will be mark the first time the Hornets will have access to its own facility in school history. The training site will have a full size competition floor and several sets of the other apparatus. The facility is expected to open in spring 2024.

THIS AND THAT

Sacramento State's has now scored 194-plus in 10 consecutive meets. The team's scoring average of 194.703 is the highest through 10 meets in program history and makes this year's Hornets one of just four teams to average at least 194 at this point of the season.
Competing twice in three days is rare but not unprecedented in school history. However, this year's stretch marks the first time the team will have in two different states in that short turnaround.