March 29, 2017
This Week:
Sat., April 1 NCAA Seattle Regional Alaska Airlines Arena Seattle, Wash. 4:00 p.m. PDT
Live scoring - http://gohski.es/2ke7bGw
Live video stream (free) - http://pac-12.com/live/university-washington
Tickets - Tickets are available through gohuskies.com in advance of the meet. Tickets will be sold the day of the meet at the Alaska Airlines Arena, beginning at 3 p.m.
SPARTANS AT THE REGIONALS
Three San José State women's gymnasts will be competing this Saturday, April 1, at the NCAA Seattle Regional, hosted by the University of Washington at the Alaska Airlines Arena. Spartan junior Kaitlin Won will represent the Spartans in the all-around. Senior Rachel Heinl is one of two bars specialists, while freshman Taylor Chan is one of two individuals competing on the floor.
Won is a first team All-Mountain Pacific Sports Federation honoree on the bars, beam, floor and all-around, and second team honoree on vault. Heinl was a first team selection on bars, while Chan is the 2017 MPSF Freshman of the Year and a first team All-MPSF honoree on vault and floor. Chan is the co-MPSF Floor Champion and tied the San José State school record on beam with a 9.900 at the championships.
The last time a Spartan advanced to the NCAA Championships was 2011 when Katie Valleau tied for first on the floor at the Oregon State regional. She then competed on floor at the 2011 NCAA Championships in Cleveland. The last time an all-arounder competed at the NCAA Championships was 2009 when Veronica Porte and Thomasina Wallace advanced from the NCAA West Regional.
2017 MPSF CHAMPIONS: For just the second time in school history, the San José State women's gymnastics team won a Mountain Pacific Sports Federation Championship. The Spartans used a strong final rotation on bars (49.200) to tie the school record with a 195.925 team score and secure the trophy by .200 over UC Davis. The Spartans only other conference trophy came in 2004 when the school also hosted the championships.
MPSF Co-FLOOR CHAMPION: Taylor Chan scored a 9.875 on floor at the 2017 MPSF Championships and tied with Alexis Brown of UC Davis for the floor title. Entering Saturday's regional, Chan has won at least a share of six consecutive floor titles and seven for the season. She scored a season-best 9.925 in a home meet with Utah State in March. She is just one of nine Spartan gymnasts to score a 9.925 on floor.
HEAD COACH
Spartan head coach Wayne Wright is in his 16th year at the helm of the program. He has coached all seven San José State regional qualifying teams and taken three individual competitors to the NCAA Championships.
Wright is assisted by associate head coach Shella Martinez who is in her 13th season with the Spartans and was named the 2017 MPSF Assistant Coach of the Year. She is primarily responsible for the beam team and is the team's recruiting coordinator. Former Spartan Alise Blackwell joined the Spartan coaching staff in 2015 as an assistant coach and is the team's bars coach.