March 21, 2017
San Jose, Calif.- In addition to winning a conference championship this past Saturday night, the San José State women's gymnastics program collected two more pieces of hardware as Taylor Chan and Shella Martinez were honored by the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation women's gymnastics coaches.
Chan was named the 2017 MPSF Freshman of the Year after winning a record seven MPSF Freshman of the Week honors. At the MPSF Championship meet, she tied for first on floor to win her first conference event championship and tied the San José State school record on beam with a 9.900 to tie for third. This season, she was the conference's top performer on floor with a 9.880 regional qualifying score. She has won six consecutive and seven overall floor titles. Chan was a first team All-MPSF honoree on vault and floor. Chan will represent San José State as a floor specialist at the NCAA Seattle Regional on Saturday, April 1.
Martinez was named the 2017 MPSF Assistant Coach of the Year. She has been an integral part of the Spartan coaching staff since 2004. She is the team's balance beam coach and recruiting coordinator and handles all floor choreography. After the beam team had a rough beginning to the season, Martinez helped the team turn it around and post three of the top-seven scores in school history. The beam team started the Spartans off with a 49.100, second-highest beam score at San Jose State, at the MPSF Championships. She coached Chan to a 9.900 on beam, tying the school record, and three Spartans won beam titles this season - Chan (twice), Stephanie Relova and Chelsey Andrada. Martinez also assisted in organizing the MPSF Women's Gymnastics Championship Banquet and made sure the small details were taken care of for the night. She also organized the student volunteers for the meet.
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