WAC Gymnastics is back! The 2006 WAC Gymnastics Championship will be the first since 1993. The WAC also had gymnastics championships from 1991-1993. There are two coaches who were a part of the WAC in 1993, Boise State's Sam Sandmire and Southern Utah's Scott Bauman.s Sandmire has been the Broncos head coach for 19 seasons, while Bauman is now in his 13th as the leader of the Thunderbirds. Utah captured the WAC title in 1991 and 1992. The Utes were also the NCAA Champions in 1992.
Utah won the 1993 WAC Championship with a score of 197.600. Boise State and Southern Utah finished third and fourth, respectively. Boise State's Julie Wagner tied for first for the vault title with a perfect 10.000. Southern Utah's Kim Francis was tied for second on balance beam with a score of 9.800.
Boise State hosted the last WAC Championship and 13 years later the championship meet moves to Logan, Utah. Utah State will host the 2006 WAC Championship on March 25. The "new" WAC consists of Boise State, Cal State Fullerton, Sacramento State, San Jose State, Southern Utah and Utah State. The Broncos, Spartans and Aggies are full-time members of the league, while the Titan, Hornets and Thunderbirds are affiliate members.
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XBOX LIVE GYMNAST OF THE WEEK Southern Utah's Sheena Shaw has been named the Xbox Live Western Athletic Conference Gymnast of the Week for the week of March 20. This is the second WAC Gymnast of the Week honor for the Thunderbirds this season.
Shaw, a senior from Payson, Utah, finished first in the all-around in all three meets last week, which gives her a string of five straight all-around meet-championships. She was first in a pair of WAC meets, at Utah State and at home against CS Fullerton. The senior scored a 39.175 at Utah State, 39.075 at BYU and 39.150 versus Cal State Fullerton, all in a five-day span. She was among the top-three overall on every event at Utah State, including event champion on both vault and floor, with identical 9.850 marks. At BYU, she was among Southern Utah??s top three on every event. Against Cal State Fullerton, she was event champion on both bars (9.85) and floor (9.80), was second on vault (9.725) and third on beam (9.775). The results from last week gives her eight top-three event-finishes and four event-championships plus three all-around titles with the only exception coming at BYU where she was among the team's top three on every event.
Other nominees included: Taylor Jacob of Boise State scored a 39.025 at the Oregon State Salbasgeon Invitational ... Marina Borisova of Sacramento State won her third-straight all-around title with a career-best 39.100 ? Jessica Parenti of Utah State led the Aggies, scoring 9.825 on bars for third place, as the Aggies finished second against Minnesota.
SOUTHERN UTAH EARNS ACADEMIC NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP Southern Utah, which posted a team grade-point-average of 3.70 or above for the fifth straight season, out-distanced second-place North Carolina 3.714-to-3.6719 and all 13 SUU gymnasts earned academic all-America honors. Southern Utah has won eight academic national championships in the past 12 years. The award is presented annually by the National Association of Collegiate Gymnastics Coaches (NACGC).
To earn individual academic all-America honors student-athletes must maintain a 3.50 or better GPA. SUU had four representatives above 3.90 this year. Leading the way for the Thunderbirds was freshman Kim Marquardt who compiled a perfect 4.0 GPA while majoring in athletic training. Junior Nicole Cummings finished the year with a 3.97, also in athletic training, while sophomore Leah Sakhitab, who advanced to the NCAA championships last year as an at-large competitor, finished with a 3.94 in biology. Sophomore Jess Langley also checked in above 3.90, with a 3.93 GPA in business management.
ADVANCING TO POSTSEASON With one meet still remaining in the regular season, Sacramento State finds itself in an unfamiliar position. For the first time in school history, Sacramento State will end the year ranked at least fifth in the West Region. Based on the formula used to calculate RQS, no team below the Hornets can create a high enough score to vault into the fifth spot. For all six teams, team and individual qualifications for NCAA Regional competition are at stake. The WAC Championship is the final meet of the season that can count toward a team??s RQS. The top six schools in each region qualify to NCAA Regionals. Right nows Boise State, Sacramento State and San Jose State are in the top six in the West Region, while Southern Utah is in the top six in the North Central Region.
Boise State Broncos (12-7, 3-1 WAC)
Boise State finished third of five teams at the Salbasgeon Invite in Corvallis, Ore., which is the site of the 2005 NCAA Gymnastics Championship ... Boise State is ranked 28th with a RQS of 193.995 and has a season average of 192.569 ... the WAC sponsored gymnastics from 1991-??93 ...s the Broncos were a member of the WAC in those three years and had one WAC champion - Julie Wagner on vault in 1993.
Cal State Fullerton Titans (9-10, 3-3 WAC)
Cal State Fullerton posted its best score of the year in the season's final dual meet, losing a 193.825-193.025 decision to Southern Utah ... Southern Utah swept the floor exercise to pull out the win while the Titans were finishing strong on the balance beam ... Brittany Evans and Nicole Lim shared first place on beams ... both scored a 9.875 which was a season high for the Titans.
Sacramento State Hornets (10-10, 4-2 WAC)
Last week, the team posted a season-high 195.325 in a victory over UC Davis ... the score marked the second-consecutive meet in which the Hornets scored above 195.000 a first in school history ... against the Aggies, Brooke Morari finished first on floor, Amber Basgall won bars, Melissa Genovese and Kimiye Narasaki shared the honor on beam, and Trista Condren was the champion on floor.
San Jose State Spartans (12-10, 4-2 WAC)
Michelle Minotti and Amberly Klein tied for first on the vault and balance beam respectively, and the San Jose State women's gymnastics team recorded its third-best team score of the season in a 193.350-194.275 loss at California ... the Spartans are ranked in the top six in the West Region ... overall, San Jose State is ranked 33rd this week with an RQS of 196.305.
Southern Utah Thunderbirdss (7-6, 4-1 WAC)
Southern Utah's gymnasts wrapped up a three-meet week with a 193.825-193.025 win over Cal State Fullerton Friday night, with senior Sheena Shaw picking up her fifth straight all-around title in her final home meet ... Shaw finished first on bars with a season-high 9.850, was co-event champion on floor at 9.80 sharing that title with teammate Jess Langley and was among the top three on all four events. Shaw??s all-around mark of 19.150 was her second-highest of the year.
Utah State Aggies (5-14, 0-8 WAC)
Utah State's gymnastics team is ranked 37th in the nation with a regional qualifying score of 192.970 as was announced in the GymInfo polls ... in team event rankings, the Aggies are ranked 28th on beam (48.350), 31st on bars (48.505), 40th on vault (48.455), and 44th on floor (48.290) ... senior Jessica Parenti tied for 36th in the all-around with an RQS score of 39.095.