BERKELEY – Three rotations through a meet that was already headed down to the wire between No. 21 California women's gymnastics and No. 4 Utah, redshirt senior standout Toni-Ann Williams landed her impressive gainer pike dismount on beam and turned to associate head coach Liz Crandall-Howell.
 
"She landed her beam dismount, and said 'Gosh, that felt good. Maybe I should do floor," Crandall-Howell recounted. "She said it kind of tongue-in-cheek kidding…but then she wasn't really kidding."
 
Williams' beam routine was supposed to be her last of the day. With a bruised knee and barely a year removed from a season-ending Achilles injury, plus her Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, Williams was to be kept out of floor for the second consecutive meet. She hadn't even trained floor in practice for more than two weeks.
 
Her aggressive beam routine, along with a pair of strong vault and bar performances, sparked Williams' confidence for the final rotation.
 
"I finished my beam routine and I was feeling good, so I joked that I could probably do a floor routine," she said. "I had nothing to lose. I had a lot of trust in my training and it was the same as normal. In the touch warmup everything felt natural."
 
Both Crandall-Howell and head coach Justin Howell trusted Williams' intuition. With the meet literally coming down to the final performance and the Utes and Golden Bears locked up with the same score, Williams delivered a nearly flawless performance.
 
When the scores popped up – a 10.0 from one judge and a 9.95 from the other – all 16 gymnasts sprinted toward the floor. For the first time in the history of the program, California earned a regular-season victory over the perennial powerhouse Utes. Cal used a program-record 197.500 performance to upset the Utes, who went 197.450.
 
"We just wanted our team to go out there and get another solid score for our RQS. All we really think about is that we get through with solid performances that add to their confidence," Crandall-Howell said.
 
Williams, who swept every single event title including the all-around with a program-record 39.700, was just one among the many brilliant performances from a deep and talented Bear squad Sunday afternoon in Haas Pavilion. Thirteen of Cal's 24 performances resulted in season or career-best totals.
 
Along with Williams' all-around total, Kyana George turned in a career-best 39.500 across her four events and finished in the top four in three of those events. Freshmen Nina Schank and Alma Kuc shared the bars crown alongside Williams, with each newcomer logging career-best 9.925s.
 
The Bears prevailed through a shaky vault start and a few wobbles on beam to not only match the program-record 197.550 team total, but also tie the program-record bars total at 49.550 and set the second-highest floor score in school history with a 49.525.
 
"We have tried to focus more on what things can go right and what we can add to. That's hard in our sport, because you start from 10.0 and you can only get worse," Crandall-Howell said.
 
"That's the shift in our team. Every single person has the opportunity to add to what we have, not take away from it…When something happens that's not ideal, there are still other people who are going to step up and help do the job," Crandall-Howell added.
 
The 1,000-plus crowd in Haas Pavilion on Saturday was treated to some of the nation's top performances from the get-go, with both teams delivering strong routines on both ends to set the tone for a closely contested meet.
 
Williams' 9.90 led a vault rotation that saw five of the six Golden Bears turn in 9.80s or better. Cal's 49.175 marked a fifth consecutive meet in which the Bears surpassed the 49.0 mark.
 
A stellar 6-for-6 bars set helped the Bears to the lead after two rotations and tied the program's record on the event. The Bears went 49.550, with all six gymnasts in the lineup sticking their landings and recording season or career-high totals to tie the program record set against Ball State on March 12, 2004.
 
Sofie Seilnacht led off the rotation with a season-high 9.875 to set the tone as Yuleen Sternberg (9.875) and Williams (9.925) each followed with season-bests of their own. Cal's freshmen carried the Bears the rest of the way through, with Kuc and Schank continuing with back-to-back career-high 9.925s. George capped it all off with a career-high of her own, going 9.90.
 
"Bars was spectacular," Crandall-Howell said. "They did natural, swinging gymnastics. It didn't look forced. It didn't look like they were trying not to make mistakes. They were just being aggressive, and when you do that, landings come."
 
After two rotations, Cal paced Utah, 98.725-98.675.
 
Though the Utes recouped the lead in the third rotation, another strong 49.0+ showing on beam kept the meet close. The Bears used a 49.250 on the event – their second highest score of the season – to push the meet to the wire. Williams once again led the rotation with a 9.90, and Chelsea Shu set a season-high 9.85. Of Cal's six gymnasts in the lineup, four scored 9.85s or higher, with George earning a 9.875 and Alicia Gallarzo going 9.85.
 
Heading into the final rotation, Utah led 148.125-147.975 – just .15 of a point.
 
Seilnacht started the Bears off with a career-high 9.85 and the scores continued to rise from there, with Shu turning in a career-best 9.875 and Sylvie Seilnacht surpassing her career-high total by .075, up from 9.825 to 9.90. By the time George delivered a career-best 9.925 in the fifth position on the event, the entire arena was surging with energy around the stellar displays of skill on both beam and floor. Williams delivered her near-perfect routine and Schank followed with a high-energy exhibition routine that sent the Bears into a frenzy of celebration.
 
"Her exhibition was just as much a victory as everything else," Crandall-Howell said. "Having someone work so hard to have a moment like that and get that event done and having that time together was great. Those moments for the team are so important. That they can have that together and experience those memories together are so important when things get hard."
 
Cal hosts Central Michigan on Friday, March 2 for the team's home finale and Senior Night. Cal will honor Arianna Robinson, Alicia Gallarzo and Yuleen Sternberg. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. from Haas Pavilion. Use "CALGYMCLUB" at www.CalBears.com/code for up to six free tickets to the meet.