Young squad leads Hornet gymnasts to winning record

Most college coaches don't smile when they see a roster full of freshman.

That is not the case for Kim Hughes.

The 18th-year head coach for the Sac State gymnastics team said his sport is different.

“What's unusual about this sport is that athletes can be quite young and still be quite experienced,” Hughes said. “We're a very young team. We have two seniors, no juniors, and the rest freshman and sophomores.”

To be exact, the Hornets have three sophomores and 10 first-year gymnasts.

The Hornets are winning with youth. The squad won again over the weekend, beating the Seattle Pacific Falcons, 188.125 to 186.925 in Seattle.

“We just have a lot of depth this year compared to last year,” Hughes said.

The Hornets posted a 7-11-1 overall 1998 record, finishing sixth at the UGAG National Championships. Hughes said the transition for the first-year gymnasts can be difficult.

“It's a challenge coming into college gymnastics from club gymnastics,” Hughes said. “But (this team) is doing a great job.”

The biggest difference, Hughes said, between college and club gymnastics is the way an athlete competes in the meets.

“The club gymnastics are not as team oriented,” he said. “They have to compete in the all-around where they focus each day on four events. In college we have a number of specialists. We can have two people cover four events (instead of just one person).”

Coming off a win against San Jose State on Jan. 30, the Hornets have earned a 4-2 record with at least seven meets remaining.

During the last meet, the Hornets outscored the Falcons in three of the four events. Vault was the only event the Falcons scored higher on.

“The main event that is helping the team right now is the uneven parallel bars,” Hughes said. “We have great depth in that event that we have not seen in the past.”

Hornet freshman Kim Broughton led all competitors on the bars with a 9.65 score.

While the team scored well, Hughes said they did so without the help of a complete team. Sophomore Jolane Parr didn't make the trip because of an ankle injury, and freshman Melissa Prescott cut short her participation in the competition because of an ankle injury as well. Prescott was not able to perform the floor event, where she had earned a top meet score at San Jose with 9.75.

“We had to deal with a flight delay ... a late team meal, we didn't get back to the hotel until midnight ... everything leading up to the meet was not ideal for a 100-percent performance,” Hughes said. “We still performed well.”

Now, Hughes said, the team needs to work on overall performance.

“I think the thing that they need to do is become more consistent,” Hughes said. “And we need for everyone to be healthy.”

At press time the newest rankings for Region I Gymnastics had not been released, but as of last week, the Hornets were No. 7 of 13 teams. The top six teams will compete at the NCAA Division I Regionals in April.

The Hornets are 4-0 against West Coast teams, and next go against San Jose State at home on Feb. 20.