California Golden Bears Athletics
Saturday, April 1
Fayetteville, Ark.
2:00 PM
California
at
NCAA Regional
Photo by: Melissa Perenson
Cal Seeks Return Trip to Nationals in Arkansas
3/30/2017 10:00 AM | Women's Gymnastics
NCAA Fayetteville Regional
Saturday, April 1 | 2 p.m. PT/4 p.m. CT | Barnhill Arena | Fayetteville, Ark.
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California women's gymnastics looks to punch its second consecutive ticket to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships when the 16th-ranked Golden Bears head to Fayetteville, Ark. for regional competition. The Bears, who are the third seed in their region, take on No. 4 Utah, No. 9 Denver, No. 21 Auburn, host Arkansas and Central Michigan in the NCAA Fayetteville Regional on Saturday, April 1. Meet time is set for 2 p.m. PT/4 p.m. CT from Arkansas' Barnhill Arena.With a top-two finish in Fayetteville, Cal can clinch a berth to the NCAA Championship for the second time in as many years, and the third time in program history. Last season, the Bears advanced out of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional to make their first appearance at the championships since 1992.
Fans can follow the meet online by watching the stream on ArkansasRazorbacks.com. Live stats can be accessed via the women's gymnastics schedule page on CalBears.com. Follow @CalWGym on Twitter and Instagram for updates, behind-the-scenes photos and videos and the latest information, and like Facebook.com/CalWGym for more on the Bears.
BY THE NUMBERS
49.300Cal posted a season-high 49.300 on floor at the Pac-12 Championships, led by a 9.90 from Zoe Draghi, 9.875 from Arianna Robinson and a pair of career-high 9.85s by Mariah Peterson and Sylvie Seilnacht.
9.925
Alicia Gallarzo earned a career-high 9.925 as the beam anchor at the Pac-12 Championships.
ROAD TO NATIONALS
Fayetteville is one of six predetermined host sites on the road to the 2017 NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships, which will be held April 14 and 15 in St. Louis, Mo. The six regional sites also include: Gainesville, Fla. (Florida), Urbana-Champaign, Ill. (Illinois), Lincoln, Neb. (Nebraska), Seattle, Wash. (Washington) and Morgantown, W. Va. (West Virginia).Each regional site will feature six teams, four all-around competitors who are not part of teams who qualified for regional competition and two individual event specialists for each event who met the minimum Regional Qualifying Score (RQS), all vying for spots at the Championships.
The top two teams from each regional as well as 24 all-around competitors and 24 individual event specialists who are not already on an advancing team will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships.
CAL IN NCAA REGIONAL COMPETITION
Cal is seeking its first team regional title and third berth to the Championships in school history. This year marks the fifth consecutive season the Bears have qualified for regional competition as a team, and the 22nd season overall. Cal has had representation at regionals 31 times in the 36-year history of NCAA Women's Gymnastics.Last season, the Bears qualified for the NCAA Women's Gymnastics National Championships for the first time in 24 years after taking second at the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional with a 195.925. In 1992, a third-place finish in Cal's own Berkeley Regional propelled the program to its first nationals trip to the in school history.
Individually, four Cal gymnasts have combined for five regional event titles, listed below:
LAST YEAR AT THE NCAA TUSCALOOSA REGIONAL
California used clutch performances in the final rotation of the NCAA Tuscaloosa Regional to punch the program's first ticket to the NCAA Women's Gymnastics Championships in 24 seasons. Cal posted a 195.725 behind regional champion Alabama (197.125). The Bears needed a 49.0 or better on bars to stay in the mix for a championship berth, but a fall halfway through the lineup meant Cal would need its remaining three competitors to hit their routines. Jessica Howe, Toni-Ann Williams and Yuleen Sternberg all delivered to send Cal to the championship. Howe turned in a second-place bars finish, and two other Bears placed in the top five: Arianna Robinson, who was fifth on vault with a 9.85, and Zoe Draghi was fifth on floor with a 9.875. Cal finished ahead of Boise State (195.750), Kentucky (195.725), West Virginia (194.250) and Bowling Green (193.850). Following the meet, Cal picked up three NACGC/W West Regional yearly honors. Howell took home his fourth consecutive Coach of the Year honor. For the second year in a row, both associate head coach Liz Crandall-Howell was voted Assistant Coach of the Year and Williams won Gymnast of the Year.ROBINSON EARNS SECOND ALL-PAC-12 DISTINCTION
Arianna Robinson is an All-Pac-12 Second Team selection on vault for the second consecutive season after ranking among the conference's top six vaulters in 2017. She owns a 9.860 regional qualifying score (RQS) and a 9.841 average on the event, with a season-high 9.90. She was consistent on the event all season long, never scoring below a 9.70 while scoring a 9.80 or better in nine of 11 meets, and racking up three vault titles. Robinson is known for her unique, difficult and well-executed vault, a piked Illg, which involves a front entry onto the vault apparatus. Front-entry vaults are rare among collegiate performers, and Robinson's vault carries a maximum start value of 10.0.CAL QUINTET EARNS ALL-ACADEMIC STATUS
Five Golden Bears have earned academic laurels for the season as Zoe Draghi, Arianna Robinson, Amber, Chelsea Shu and Sylvie Seilnacht each picked up Pac-12 All-Academic honorable mention status. Draghi (3.44, legal studies), Robinson (3.27, American studies) and Takara (3.24, social welfare) earned repeat honors as all-academic selections, while Shu (3.36, undeclared) and Seilnacht (3.13, undeclared) earned the first all-academic awards of their careers.LAST TIME OUT
The Golden Bears finished sixth at the Pac-12 Championships with a 196.300 after recovering from two falls on beam with a season-best beam rotation. Utah won the Pac-12 Championship with a 197.925. Highlights:• Cal's 49.300 on floor was the highest score on the event this season.
• Alicia Gallarzo set a career-high 9.925 on beam, leading session one of the championships and finishing fourth overall.
• Mariah Peterson matched her career-high totals on both vault (9.90) and floor (9.85).
• In just her second floor performance of her collegiate career, Sofie Seilnacht delivered a personal-best 9.85.
BEAM QUEENS
California continues its reign over the balance beam in 2017, which has seen the Bears post back-to-back 49.325s on the event, a total that ranks as the second-highest in school history. Cal has claimed a beam title in seven of 11 meets this season, and swept the beam event in three meets this season.Desiree Palomares owns a team-best four titles, including three consecutive to start the season. She has matched her career-high 9.90 on the event twice in 2017. At Nebraska's Masters Classic, Sofie Seilnacht scored a career-high 9.925 to win the event. It was just the fifth 9.925 on beam in program history, and among the top nine scores on beam in school history (four 9.95s, six 9.925s) after Alicia Gallarzo followed it up with her own 9.925 at the Pac-12 Championships. Gallarzo also owns one beam title, using a then-career-best 9.875 against Arizona State for her first crown on the apparatus. Against Oklahoma, Emily Richardson matched a career-high 9.90 to pick up Cal's latest beam title.
Once considered Cal's worst event, the Bears have made significant improvement on the apparatus under coaches Justin Howell and Liz Crandall-Howell. The Bears owned a 48.285 RQS and ranked 44th in the country on beam in 2012, prior to the duo taking the lead in Berkeley. In 2016, Cal finished 13th on beam with a 49.205 RQS -- an improvement of nearly one point and 31 spots in the rankings. The Bears currently rank 16th on beam and are averaging 49.093 with an RQS of 49.225 and a high of 49.325.
RANKED ON THE ROAD TO NATIONALS
Cal is set to face eight opponents who were ranked in the Road to Nationals preseason top 25 this season, including three in the top 10: top-ranked Oklahoma, UCLA (No. 4), Utah (6), Stanford (11), Nebraska (12), Oregon State (13), Arizona (18) and Washington (20). Additionally, seven of the Pac-12's eight gymnastics programs also ranked in the top 25 in the preseason rankings.Prior to the Pac-12 Championships and the start of the postseason, the Bears went 5-4 against ranked opponents. Cal's results against top 25 ranked opponents in 2017 (using rankings at time of competition):
No. 11 Stanford -- W, 195.325-193.250
No. 24 Iowa -- W, 195.550-194.400
No. 17 Washington -- W, 196.300-195.325
No. 4 Utah -- L, 196.450-195.725
No. 12 Oregon State -- W, 197.075-196.825
No. 12 Nebraska -- L, 197.175-196.400
No. 24 Utah State -- W, 196.400-196.200
No. 4 UCLA -- L, 197.525-196.800
No. 1 Oklahoma -- L, 197.800-196.775
NEXT ROTATION
The top two teams from each regional site as well as 24 all-around competitors and 24 individual event specialists who are not already on an advancing team will receive an automatic bid to the NCAA Championships, held in Chaifetz Arena in St. Louis, Mo. on April 14 and 15.
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