California Golden Bears Athletics
Friday, March 9
Sacramento, Calif.
7:00 PM
California
at
Sacramento State, Minnesota, Alaska Anchorage
3/8/2018 9:46 AM | Women's Gymnastics
California women's gymnastics has a busy weekend ahead as the Golden Bears wrap up their regular-season slate with a quad meet on Friday and a dual meet on Sunday. First, Cal heads to Sacramento for the first quad meet of the season against Sacramento State, No. 22 Minnesota and Alaska Anchorage. Meet time is set for 7 p.m. Friday. California bookends the weekend in Davis, where the Bears will take on UC Davis in a dual meet at 2 p.m. on Sunday.
The Bears are currently on a three-meet win streak, taking the victory over three top-30 ranked teams and improving their regional qualifying scores with the top three totals of the season in the process. Most recently, the Bears matched the program's best beam total against Central Michigan, led by Junior Sofie Seilnacht's career-high 9.925 performance and 9.80 performances from every Bear in the rotation. Seilnacht earned the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week Award for her efforts on beam and her 9.825 floor routine, which earned her a second title of the night. Freshman Kyana George shared the floor title with Seilnacht and earned this week's Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors.
California looks to wrap up the regular season with a pair of strong road scores at its NorCal foes to continue to improve their RQS.
The Bears are ranked in the top 25 nationally on all four events for the first time this season—10th on vault, 25th on bars, 12th on beam, and 17th on floor.
2
Two gymnasts earned Pac-12 weekly honors this week. Kyana George was voted Freshman of the Week for the second time this season, and Sofie Seilnacht took home two titles (beam, floor) against Central Michigan to win Specialist of the Week.
49.350
The Bears matched their program-best score on the beam last weekend, the second time this season California earned the program's best score on the event. All performers recorded 9.80 or better on the event, led by Sofie Seilnacht's 9.925 career-high performance. The Bears have scored a 49.0+ on the event for the past six meets and are ranked just outside of the top 10 nationally at 12th.
• Toni-Ann Williams won three individual event titles (vault, bars and floor), plus the all-around total. She recorded season-high 9.925s on both vault and bars.
• Freshman Kyana George's 39.325 all-around performance included a 9.85 on vault and bars, and she earned her second event title of the season with a 9.825 on floor.
• Junior Sofie Seilnacht recorded her career-best beam routine, earning a 9.925. Seilnacht turned in the first multi-title meet of her career, picking up both the beam and floor wins.
• The Bears matched the program-record beam total for the second time this season with a 49.350.
• California recorded a 49.375 bars team total, the fifth-best in program history. The effort was led by Nina Schank and Williams' 9.925 performances. The duo shared the title on the event, and five of six Bears earned a 9.825 or better on the apparatus.
RQS determines seeding at conference championships and in NCAA postseason meets. In the Pac-12 Conference, the top four-seeded teams compete in the evening session of the Pac-12 Gymnastics Championships, while the lower four teams compete in the afternoon session.
Cal currently ranks 2-th with an RQS of 196.235.
George turned in the highest all-around total of any freshman in the Pac-12 for the week, using a strong 39.325 performance against Central Michigan to help lift the Bears to another high-scoring meet to improve their RQS. She won the floor title and scored 9.80 or higher on all four of her events, while placing in the top four on four of her five events.
Seilnacht anchored Cal's beam rotation with a career-high 9.925, helping the Bears match their program-record beam total at 49.350. She followed up a stunning beam set with her first career floor title.
Cal is set to face four opponents ranked in the Road to Nationals preseason top 25 this season, and nearly every single program the Bears will face this season is ranked or received votes in the preseason poll, including two top-three programs in Utah (No. 5) and UCLA (6), and seven top 30 programs, including Washington (15), Stanford (18), Arizona (26), Minnesota (27) and Central Michigan (30).
Cal's results against top 25 ranked opponents in 2018 (using rankings at time of competition):
No. 18 Stanford -- W, 195.475-194.925
No. 21 BYU -- L, 196.025-194.350
No. 13 Washington -- L, 196.325-194.850
No. 14 Arizona State -- L, 196.800-194.850
No. 19 Arizona -- W, 195.950-194.425
No. 4 UCLA -- L, 197.750-197.225
No. 25 Stanford -- W, 196.700-196.425
No. 4 Utah -- W, 197.500-197.450
She claimed her program-best 12th Pac-12 weekly honor after being voted the conference's Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 27. Williams lifted the Bears to their first regular-season victory over Utah in school history by matching her program-record 39.700 all-around total. Williams swept every event title against the Utes, including using a season-high 9.925 on bars and career-best 9.975 on floor to take her titles. The results came despite Williams not being scheduled to compete on floor originally, Williams missed floor against Stanford to rest a bone bruise made worse by her Juvenile rheumatoid arthiritis and was not slated to compete on the event for the second week in a row against the Utes. A last-minute decision by Williams and Cal's coaching staff helped clinch the historic victory for the Bears.
With her 9.975 performance on floor at Arizona State, she matched her career-best score on the event and won the individual title, while matching the top floor score in school history. Williams won three event titles in back-to-back weeks at Washington and Arizona State. She currently leads the Bears with 19 event titles.
Find Cal at:
• Twitter: @CalWGym
• Facebook: Facebook.com/CalWGym
• Instagram: @CalWGym
The Bears are currently on a three-meet win streak, taking the victory over three top-30 ranked teams and improving their regional qualifying scores with the top three totals of the season in the process. Most recently, the Bears matched the program's best beam total against Central Michigan, led by Junior Sofie Seilnacht's career-high 9.925 performance and 9.80 performances from every Bear in the rotation. Seilnacht earned the Pac-12 Specialist of the Week Award for her efforts on beam and her 9.825 floor routine, which earned her a second title of the night. Freshman Kyana George shared the floor title with Seilnacht and earned this week's Pac-12 Freshman of the Week honors.
California looks to wrap up the regular season with a pair of strong road scores at its NorCal foes to continue to improve their RQS.
NUMBERS TO KNOW
4The Bears are ranked in the top 25 nationally on all four events for the first time this season—10th on vault, 25th on bars, 12th on beam, and 17th on floor.
2
Two gymnasts earned Pac-12 weekly honors this week. Kyana George was voted Freshman of the Week for the second time this season, and Sofie Seilnacht took home two titles (beam, floor) against Central Michigan to win Specialist of the Week.
49.350
The Bears matched their program-best score on the beam last weekend, the second time this season California earned the program's best score on the event. All performers recorded 9.80 or better on the event, led by Sofie Seilnacht's 9.925 career-high performance. The Bears have scored a 49.0+ on the event for the past six meets and are ranked just outside of the top 10 nationally at 12th.
LAST TIME OUT: Bears End Home Slate with Victory Against No.29 Chippewas
The Bears dominated the Chippewas on all four events to end their season at Haas with a 196.925-193.525 victory.• Toni-Ann Williams won three individual event titles (vault, bars and floor), plus the all-around total. She recorded season-high 9.925s on both vault and bars.
• Freshman Kyana George's 39.325 all-around performance included a 9.85 on vault and bars, and she earned her second event title of the season with a 9.825 on floor.
• Junior Sofie Seilnacht recorded her career-best beam routine, earning a 9.925. Seilnacht turned in the first multi-title meet of her career, picking up both the beam and floor wins.
• The Bears matched the program-record beam total for the second time this season with a 49.350.
• California recorded a 49.375 bars team total, the fifth-best in program history. The effort was led by Nina Schank and Williams' 9.925 performances. The duo shared the title on the event, and five of six Bears earned a 9.825 or better on the apparatus.
WHAT'S AN RQS, AND WHY DOES IT MATTER?
Beginning on Feb. 26 this season, women's gymnastics programs around the country earn their rankings based on their Regional Qualifying Score, or RQS. The RQS is determined using a team's top six scores of the season, three of which must be from an away meet. Of the six, the highest score is dropped and the remaining five are averaged.RQS determines seeding at conference championships and in NCAA postseason meets. In the Pac-12 Conference, the top four-seeded teams compete in the evening session of the Pac-12 Gymnastics Championships, while the lower four teams compete in the afternoon session.
Cal currently ranks 2-th with an RQS of 196.235.
TWICE AS NICE
Two California gymnasts picked up Pac-12 weekly honors on March 6, as Kyana George won her second Freshman of the Week laurel and Sofie Seilnacht was voted Specialist of the Week.George turned in the highest all-around total of any freshman in the Pac-12 for the week, using a strong 39.325 performance against Central Michigan to help lift the Bears to another high-scoring meet to improve their RQS. She won the floor title and scored 9.80 or higher on all four of her events, while placing in the top four on four of her five events.
Seilnacht anchored Cal's beam rotation with a career-high 9.925, helping the Bears match their program-record beam total at 49.350. She followed up a stunning beam set with her first career floor title.
BEARS BATTLE ON BARS
Though the Bears began their season with a series of unsteady bar rotations, the team has seen consistency and success in their last four meets on the apparatus with four consecutive bars scores of 49.0 or higher, including program-high totals. In their performance against No. 4 Utah, the Bears matched a program-record 49.550 on the event, led by three 9.925 performances from Alma Kuc, Nina Schank and Toni-Ann Williams. Cal followed it up last weekend with a 49.375 on the event against Central Michigan, the fifth-highest bars score in school history.VAULTING TO VICTORY
The Bears have seen a steady increase in their vault score throughout the season, finishing with a 49.400 against No. 4 UCLA, the second-highest score on the event in program history. California has won the individual title on the event in five of the past seven meets, including wins against No. 14 Arizona State, No. 16 Arizona, No. 13 Washington, No. 4 Utah and Central Michigan. In their record-breaking performance against UCLA, the Bears saw career highs by Kyana George (9.90), Cassidy Keelen (9.85) and Rachael Mastrangelo (9.825), and a season-high performance from Toni-Ann Williams (9.925), who took second on the event. California is currently ranked 7th nationally in the event, their highest position in the national standings. Despite using just one vault with a 10.0 start value (Arianna Robinson, Piked Ilg), five different gymnasts have tallied 9.90s or higher on the event, including a career-best 9.95 by Robinson.BEARS DISPLAY DEPTH
This season's Golden Bear roster features one of Cal's deepest rosters in recent years, with 12 of the 13 currently available gymnasts seeing time in a competitive lineup this season. After competing the full 2017 season without a single all-arounder, the Bears now have two consistent options in Toni-Ann Williams and Kyana George. Of the 31 unique routines in the event lineups, 25 of those 31 routines have earned season-high totals of 9.85 or better.RANKED ON THE ROAD TO NATIONALS
The Golden Bears opened 2018 at No. 11 in the Road to Nationals preseason coaches poll, the program's second-highest ranking in school history. Cal's No. 11 ranking was just one spot behind last season's best-ever No. 10 ranking.Cal is set to face four opponents ranked in the Road to Nationals preseason top 25 this season, and nearly every single program the Bears will face this season is ranked or received votes in the preseason poll, including two top-three programs in Utah (No. 5) and UCLA (6), and seven top 30 programs, including Washington (15), Stanford (18), Arizona (26), Minnesota (27) and Central Michigan (30).
Cal's results against top 25 ranked opponents in 2018 (using rankings at time of competition):
No. 18 Stanford -- W, 195.475-194.925
No. 21 BYU -- L, 196.025-194.350
No. 13 Washington -- L, 196.325-194.850
No. 14 Arizona State -- L, 196.800-194.850
No. 19 Arizona -- W, 195.950-194.425
No. 4 UCLA -- L, 197.750-197.225
No. 25 Stanford -- W, 196.700-196.425
No. 4 Utah -- W, 197.500-197.450
TONI AWARD WINNER
Toni-Ann Williams' 2017 season may have ended with an Achilles injury, but the Olympian has come back stronger than ever to lead the 2018 Golden Bears. She owns a team-high 15 event titles and is ranked in the nation's top 30 on vault (23rd), beam (27th), floor (3rd)and all-around (21st).She claimed her program-best 12th Pac-12 weekly honor after being voted the conference's Gymnast of the Week on Feb. 27. Williams lifted the Bears to their first regular-season victory over Utah in school history by matching her program-record 39.700 all-around total. Williams swept every event title against the Utes, including using a season-high 9.925 on bars and career-best 9.975 on floor to take her titles. The results came despite Williams not being scheduled to compete on floor originally, Williams missed floor against Stanford to rest a bone bruise made worse by her Juvenile rheumatoid arthiritis and was not slated to compete on the event for the second week in a row against the Utes. A last-minute decision by Williams and Cal's coaching staff helped clinch the historic victory for the Bears.
With her 9.975 performance on floor at Arizona State, she matched her career-best score on the event and won the individual title, while matching the top floor score in school history. Williams won three event titles in back-to-back weeks at Washington and Arizona State. She currently leads the Bears with 19 event titles.
NEXT ROTATION
California has one more opportunity to improve its RQS when the Bears begin postseason competition at the Pac-12 Championships on Saturday, March 24. Cal will compete in one of two sessions, with seeding for each session to be determined based on RQS.ALL-ACCESS PASS
Join Cal Women's Gymnastics in the social media realm for behind-the-scenes access to the Bears. Follow Cal on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for meet scores, practice updates, exclusive photos, videos and more.Find Cal at:
• Twitter: @CalWGym
• Facebook: Facebook.com/CalWGym
• Instagram: @CalWGym
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