OPENING PASS

• Off to its best start in school history, the Sacramento State gymnastics team will conclude its early season homestand when it brings Cornell and Alaska Anchorage into The Nest for a Friday night tri-meet which begins at 7 p.m.
• The Hornets improved to 3-0 for the first time in the school's NCAA Div. I-era with a 194.625-193.825 win over San Jose State last Sunday. The victory snapped a 14-meet losing streak to the Spartans who had also won 22 of the previous 24 meetings. Sacramento State's average of 194.663 currently places the team 35th nationally and is the highest through two meets in school history. The previous record of 194.475 was set in 2017.
• The Hornets have had the top team score in seven of its eight rotations through two meets this season.
• Links to live stats and a video stream for this week's meet can be found on hornetsports.com.

OPPONENT PREVIEW

• Cornell opened the season by placing second out of three teams last weekend in a home meet. The Big Red scored 193.150 to finish behind Yale (193.700) and ahead of Bridgeport (191.850). Sydney Beers finished the meet with an all-around score of 39.125 while Morgen Shambo took the top spot on bars with a 9.725.
• Melanie Hall is in her fifth season as the head coach for Cornell. She previously was an assistant for the program from 1994-2021.
• This week is the first meeting between the Hornets and the Big Red in school history.
• Alaska Anchorage is the last team in the nation to start its season as the Seawolves will make their debut on Friday. Senior Montana Fairbairn, junior Alyssa Manley and sophomore Claudia Lessig lead the way for UAA. Fairbairn has been named second team all-MPSF the last two seasons while Lessig set her career high with a 9.850 on vault at last year's MPSF Championship at The Nest. Manley will return after missing all of 2024 with an injury.
• Marie-Sophie Boggasch is in her fifth season as the team's head coach and a former Seawolves gymnast who finished second on bars at the 2015 MPSF Championship.
• Sacramento State leads the all-time series, 60-4, and is 26-1 at home against Alaska Anchorage.
• Both teams will remain in Northern California for the weekend as each will be part of a four-team meet at UC Davis on Sunday. It will be hard to find a meet with a larger distance between schools as Cornell is 2,765 driving miles from Sacramento and Anchorage is 3,022 miles away. The drive between UAA and Ithaca, N.Y., is 4,306 miles and four times zones.

BEAM AMONG THE BEST

• Through two meets this season, the Sacramento State beam lineup has been one of the top teams in the country. The Hornets current average of 49.025 ranks 15th nationally and makes the team one of 16 in the country who average over 49 points in the event. The team's roster includes five gymnasts who are currently averaging at least 9.775 led by 9.812s from both Grace Gilman and Sarah Lutrel.
• In both meets this season, the team has counted five scores of at least 9.750. Rylin Zimmerman was victorious in the opening meet with a 9.850 while Athena Jones tied for the top spot with the same score against San Jose State. 

FROM THE START

• The Hornets' success can be traced to the team's table setters. Most recently, Grace Gilman started the meet with the team's first vault and her score of 9.800 held to earn her a share of the event title. Redshirt freshman Chloe Cohen did the same on bars to claim an outright win during the second rotation. Gilman then returned to lead off beam and scored 9.825 to rank second on the team and tie for fourth overall. In the final rotation, Simone Dumas-Guzman scored 9.775 from the first spot in the lineup to tie for the team lead and tie for second place in the meet.

SO NICE, LET'S DO IT THRICE

• Sacramento State will start its season with three consecutive meets at home. Since complete records were kept (1992-pres.), this year will mark the first time the team will open a year with three meets in a row at home. In fact, the Hornets have only had back-to-back home meets to begin a year just one time (2019) in that span.

HOME SWEET HOME

• Sacramento State moved into its new training facility this past summer. The building, which is located on Folsom Blvd. and is within walking distance of campus, marks the first time the Hornets will have access to its own facility in school history. The training site has a full size competition floor and several sets of the other apparatus as well as a locker room, athletic training space and team lounge.

THE FUTURE IS NOW

• Sacramento State was scheduled to use the same lineup as the opening meet of the season until Rose Wilson rolled an ankle during the bars touch warm-up. That setback moved true freshman Maliyah James into the sixth position for her collegiate debut. James joined Kaitelyn Driessen as the only true freshman to compete for the Hornets. Driessen scored 9.775 on vault and then had a 9.875 in a beam exhibition.
• Redshirt freshman Chloe Cohen has also had early success in her first season of competition. After missing all of 2024 with an injury, Cohen has averaged a team-best 9.763 through two meets this season. She started the year by placing fifth on bars and added her first win last Sunday.