Women’s Gymnastics places third at Pac-12 Championships

As the 4th best squad in the Pac-12 this year, California Golden Bears will be competing in the evening session of the 2018 Pac-12 Championships along side powerhouses of No.3 UCLA, No.4 Utah, and No.8 Washington. In another historic year for the program (there are quite a few of them in recent years under head coach Justin Howell), Golden Bears have continue the climb up the rankings to be No.10 ranked team in the country.

While this meet has no bearing on that (the RSQ - the average team scores that determine the top teams, have pretty much been set), the Golden Bears would need to be one of the top 8 team left standings (down from 12) to make the slightly smaller NCAA National Championships as a team in 2018. The new three day Regional Format could be very interesting this postseason.

UPDATE: Cal SID has informed us that new format does not take effect until 2019. There will still be top 12 at the NCAA championships in 2018.

Golden Bears are led by their Jamaican Calympian in Toni-Ann Williams, who has one more year of eligibility after this one after being granted a medical exemption for her achilles tendon injury that cut short her 2017 season. Williams was instrumental, winning the all-around, in Cal’s first dual meet victory over perennial powerhouse Utah Red Rocks in their regular season meeting this year.

Having made the NCAA national championships as an individual in her freshman season, Toni-Ann Williams have since gained quite a bit of help on her squad.

Regulars on the Cal lineup includes Seniors Arianna Robinson, Alicia Gallarzo, and Yuleen Sterberg; Juniors Sofie and Sylvie Seilnacht, Chelsea Chu, Sophomores Cassidy Keelen and Rachael Mastrangelo; and Freshmen Alma Kuc, Nina Schank, and the other Cal all-arounder in Kyana George.

This is the typical lineup for the Bears (note that in the Vault Lineup, that’s Keelen’s picture with Mastrangelo’s name):

The Golden Bears have put up their two best scores of the year against the toughest competition. Bears beat Utah by a mere 0.050 with a team score of 197.500. Bears previously had a team season high of 197.225 in a loss to UCLA. It would be great to see the Bears consistently get above 197 points (which may not be enough as the Bruins have surpassed 198 in a meet this year).

2018 Pac-12 Women’s Gymnastics Championships

When: March 24th

Session 1: 1 pm PT

Session 2: 6 pm PT (Cal will be in Session 2)

Where: McKale Center (Tucson, AZ)

TV: Pac-12 Networks

GO BEARS!