March 8, 2017
This Week:
Friday, March 8 Arkansas, Centenary Fayetteville, Ark. 7:00 p.m. CT
Live Scoring - http://stats.statbroadcast.com/broadcast/?id=156786
The San José State women's gymnastics team makes the final road trip of the regular season this weekend as the team travels to Arkansas for a tri-meet with the Razorbacks and Centenary Friday night.
National Rankings Ranking RQS AVG
Arkansas 29th 195.585 194.283
San José State 47th 194.355 193.994
Centenary 67th 190.200 188.900
This is the first meeting between Arkansas and San José State. The Spartans and Centenary last competed in a meet together in the 2015 when both teams were part of a quadrangular meet at Texas Woman's.
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.
MOUNTAIN PACIFIC SPORTS FEDERATION WEEKLY HONORS
Taylor Chan continues to accumulate MPSF Freshman of the Week honors as she received her sixth honor this week after winning beam and floor this past Sunday against Utah State. She tied her career high on beam with a 9.850 and set a new career best on floor with a 9.925. Her other honors came on Jan. 17 & 31, and February 14, 21 and 28.
Stephanie Relova was named the MPSF Specialist of the Week for the second time this season. She was third on bars as she tied her career best with a 9.825, and added a 9.800 on beam to tie for third place. Her other honor came 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.
In all, the Spartans have won 10 MPSF of the Week honors. 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 SCORES
The Spartans have recorded two top-20 team score in San José State history this season. 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. This past Sunday, the Spartans scored a 195.150, tying for the 18th-best score in Spartan history.
PILING UP THE FLOOR TITLES
Freshman Taylor Chan is making an immediate impact on the Spartan floor team. She has won at least a share of five floor titles this season, including four consecutive heading into the meet at Arkansas. She has the team's top score this season of a 9.925 on floor and is just one of 10 Spartans in school history to record that score on floor.
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 first and third in the MPSF floor standings. Chan is tops in the league with a 9.865 RQS and 9.850 average, while Won is closely behind at 9.825 RQS and 9.794 average. Chan won the floor five times this season with a season-best 9.925, 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.