Jan. 27, 2012

Final Results

BERKELEY - The California women's gymnastics team saved their strongest performance for last, recording a 48.625 on the bars to surge past UC Davis and win a tri-meet between the Aggies and Seattle Pacific Friday night in Davis. The Golden Bears (3-2) recorded a 191.750 to edge UC Davis' score of 191.600. Seattle Pacific finished in third place with a score of 189.275.

UC Davis entered the final rotation with a slim 143.150 - 143.125 lead over Cal. The Bears took five of the top six spots in their final rotation on the bars - highlighted by sophomore Dallas Crawford's season-best and event-winning score of 9.800 - to overcome their deficit and capture first place in the meet. Junior Carol Chang scored a career-best 9.750 to place third, while fellow junior Mariesah Pierce and sophomore Alicia Asturias tied for fourth place with a score of 9.700. Sophomore Madisyn O'Brien was right behind with a score of 9.675 to tie for sixth place in the event.

"We had several fantastic individual performances, particularly Mariesah Pierce who was solid on all four events," said Cal head coach Danna Durante. "It was great to see Erica Varon in the beam line up, Stina Olivere back in floor for the second week and competing on vault for the first time. Maddie Kratzke competed a beautiful vault; we are excited that she is working her way into the line up." "We struggled a bit on our first two events. We had a few athletes that needed some rest so there were some changes in our lineups. The team worked hard to get back on track after floor and really showed great fight on vault and bars. It was exciting to be able to finish strong and come away with the win. I'm very proud of our team and the progress we continue to make. We look forward to hosting Davis next Sunday at home."

Cal started the evening on the balance beam where Pierce led the Bears with a score of 9.700 to tie UC Davis' Katie Yamamura for the event title. Senior Erica Varon made her season debut during Friday's competition with a strong beam routine that scored her a 9.625 to tie for fifth place overall in the event.

Pierce also captured top honors in the floor exercise as the junior continued her strong performance in the event with a 9.825. Sophomore Lina Nilsson tied for eighth in the floor exercise with a score of 9.575.

Freshman Maddie Kratzke, who had previously competed in two exhibitions this season, made her collegiate debut in the vault lineup during Friday's competition. She opened her Cal career in impressive fashion with a score of 9.725 to tie Pierce for second place in the event. Junior Stina Olivere was right behind her teammates with a score of 9.675 to tie for fifth place overall. Yamamura won the vault for UC Davis with a score of 9.850.

Pierce finished the evening with a score of 38.950 in the all-around to place second, just behind Yamamura's 39.125.

Cal and UC Davis will meet again next weekend, this time inside Haas Pavilion on the Berkeley campus on Sunday, Feb. 5 at 1 p.m.