Gymnastics takes third at nationals

After finishing in third place at the USAG Nationals last weekend in New Haven, Conn., the Hornet gymnastics season has come to an end.

While celebration seems to be in order, the Hornet coaching staff is already making plans for next season instead.

Head coach Kim Hughes said his team (21-5) was disappointed with the third-place finish behind Davis and Texas, but was proud of its performance.

“I have mixed feelings about nationals because we had such a great year, but third place is not horrible,” Hughes said. “I was proud of the girls because they did the best they could and afterwards they held their heads high.”

Davis finished in the finals with a team score of 193.700, Texas placed second with a 193.400, Sac State compiled a 192.275 score while Seattle Pacific finished fourth with a 190.825.

Even though it was tough not coming out in first place Hughes said a Cinderella story made the meet special.

“We have beaten UC Davis five times this year and going into this competition we felt that Texas was going to be our toughest competition,” Hughes said. “But Davis had a near perfect performance and became the shock of the meet.”

Hornet seniors Andi Arnold and Nicole Denis competed in their final meet for Sac State and finished their careers on a positive note.

“Andi finished second in the vault with a 9.7250 and Nicole got her highest score ever on the parallel bars with a 9.8,” Hughes said. “I am very proud of them both.”

Now the program will turn their attention to the future.

“One weakness we need to improve is our difficulty level on each event,” Hughes said. “We also need to make our squad seven to eight deep in each event and for all of them to have a high level of performance.”

Hughes said with the young squad he had this season and a chance to have a good recruiting class will make for an exciting season next year.

“Our goal for next season is to keep this program at the level we achieved this season and to get us at an even higher level,” he said. “Right now I feel like that is a very attainable goal.”