96328579632857

Gymnastics Hosts Utah State This Sunday For Senior Day

March 3, 2017

Weekly Release

This Week:

Sunday, March 5 Utah State The Event Center 2:00 p.m. PT

Live video stream - https://livestream.com/sanjosestate/events/6996027

Live Scoring -

The San José State women's gymnastics team hosts Utah State this Sunday, March 5, in the team's final regular-season home meet beginning at 2 p.m. It is also the final regular-season home meet for Spartan seniors Rachel Heinl, Erica Matos and Haleigh Shepard. All three will be honored after Sunday's meet.

National Rankings Ranking RQS AVG

Utah State 22nd 195.775 195.128

San José State 49th 194.055 193.850

The two teams have not competed against each other since the 2014 season. That year, the teams competed at the UC Davis quad on January 26, and the Spartans traveled to Logan where the Aggies won 195.525-195.100.

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. 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.

MPSF WEEKLY HONORS

Taylor Chan continues to accumulate MPSF Freshman of the Week honors as she received her fifth honor this week after tying for first on floor last week at the UC Davis quad meet. Her other honors came on Jan. 17 & 31, and February 14 & 21.

In all, the Spartans have won eight MPSF of the Week honors. Stephanie Relova was the MPSF Specialist of the Week for the first time in her career on February 14. She tied for first with Chan on the beam with a career-best 9.850, her first collegiate beam title. Relova also finished fourth on the bars with a 9.725.

On February 7, Kaitlin Won was the Gymnast of the Week, while Kaprece Nadonza was the Specialist of the Week. Won claimed the all-around title with a career-best 39.225 against UC Davis on February 3. Won also tied for first on the floor with a career-best 9.850. She led the Spartan vault team with a second-place 9.800, and finished third on the bars at 9.800 and beam at 9.775. Nadonza capturing her first event title of her collegiate career with a career-best 9.850 on bars to win the event. This is her first MPSF honor of her career.

TOP-20 TEAM SCORE

Against Sacramento State on February 10, the Spartans scored a 195.200, the 16th-best team score in school history, and this is the first team to receive that specific score.

RELOVA WINS FIRST BEAM TITLE

Sophomore Stephanie Relova, in her first year competing after missing last season with a knee injury, scored a season-best 9.850 on beam against Sacramento State (February 10) to tie teammate Taylor Chan and win the beam title. It is the first event title for Relova in her career.

BEAM TEAM WITH TWO TOP-SIX SCORES

After starting the 2017 season slowly, the Spartan beam posted two top-10 beam scores in school history in February. At Air Force, the team posted the highest event score of the night with a 48.975, tying for the sixth-best beam score in school history. Chelsey Andrada won her first collegiate event title with a career-best 9.825. Alisa Bogdan, Kaitlin Won and Taylor Chan tied for third place at 9.800, while Stephanie Relova received a 9.750, and Michelle Shalit had a 9.625.

Against Sacramento State on February 10, the beam team had a season-high 49.025, tying for the fourth-highest beam score in school history. Taylor Chan and Stephanie Relova led the way as they each scored a 9.850. Chelsey Andrada had a season-high 9.800, followed by Kaitlin Won at 9.775, Alisa Bogdan at 9.750.

ANDRADA WINS FIRST BEAM TITLE

Freshman Chelsey Andrada won her first collegiate beam title at Air Force on February 18, with a career-best 9.825. She is the second freshman to win a beam title this season (Taylor Chan on February 10).

NADONZA WINS FIRST BARS TITLE OF CAREER

Sophomore Kaprece Nadonza, in just her fifth career bars routine, scored a career-best 9.850 on bars and won her first career event title against UC Davis on February 3.

BARS TEAM TIES 6TH-HIGHEST SJSU SCORE

The Spartan bars team tied the sixth-best score in school history in a meet at California with Washington on January 21. The team posted a 49.025. Rachel Heinl, Stephanie Relova and Kaitlin Won each scored a 9.825 to lead the team. Kaprece Nadonza added a season-best 9.800, followed by Kendal Watts also with a season-best 9.750 and Haleigh Shepard at 9.675.

VAULT, FLOOR TEAMS POST TOP-15 SCORES

The Spartan vault and floor teams posted team scores at the Metroplex Challenge that landed in the top-15 in San José State history. The vault team scored a season-high 48.750 to tied for the 14th-best score, led by Taylor Chan and Josalyn Ray who each had a 9.775.

The floor team recorded a season-high 49.050, tying for the 13th-best floor score in school history. Contributing on the floor were Chan at 9.850, Kaitlin Won and Erica Matos at 9.825, Chelsey Andrada with a season-best 9.775, Ellie Pascoe-Long at 9.775 and Ray with a season-best 9.750.

CHAN, WON TOP FLOOR SCORES

Taylor Chan and Kaitlin Won sit 1-2 in the MPSF floor standings. Chan is tops in the league with a 9.8455 RQS and 9.841 average, while Won is closely behind at 9.825 RQS and 9.794 average. Chan won the floor against Sacramento State, at Air Force and at UC Davis quad meet with a season-best 9.875, the top floor score this year for the Spartans. Won won the floor against UC Davis with a 9.850.

ALL-AROUNDER

Kaitlin Won is the team's only all-around performer this year. She has a 38.865 RQS and a 38.834 average in the all-around and recorded a career-best 39.225 against UC Davis on February 3. She scored a 39.075 at California in January and against Sacramento State on February 10.

MPSF CHAMPIONSHIPS MARCH 18

San José State will host the MPSF Championships on Saturday, March 18, at The Event Center beginning at 6 p.m. Teams competing include Air Force, Alaska Anchorage, UC Davis, Sacramento State, Seattle Pacific and the Spartans.

Tickets are on sale for the championships at the Spartan Ticket Office. Prices are $10 for adults, $8 for youth 18-and-under, $6 for groups of 10 more bought prior to the meet through the Spartan Ticket Office and $5 for SJSU students with a Tower Card the day of the meet.

Call the Spartan Ticket Office at (408) 924-SJTX (7589) for more information.

UP NEXT

The Spartans go on the road one more time for a meet at Arkansas with Centenary on Friday, March 10, at 7 p.m. Central time. San José State then hosts the MPSF Championships on Saturday, March 18, at 6 p.m.