Though it was a pretty quiet weekend, with just two meets to kick things off, the 2015 NCAA season is officially underway.

#14 Cal Wins NorCal Classic [Results]

The big meet pitted 10th-ranked Stanford against host UC Davis, Cal, San Jose State, and Sacramento State. Unfortunately, there was no live stream, but if you’re like us, you dutifully refreshed the live scores until the very end.

The last-minute absence of Kristina Vaculik due to illness left the Cardinal with just five able to do bars and floor, meaning everything had to count for those two events. Where are the backups?! Unfortunately, they ended up counting two falls on bars from Samantha Shapiro and Nicolette McNair as well as an 8.450 from Jenna Frowein on floor.

The good news is that despite their last-place finish with a painfully low 193.450, the Card with a full lineup shouldn’t be in such a jam. Ivana Hong is finally back and looking steady on bars and beam, Taylor Rice was unbelievably consistent in the all-around, winning the title with a 39.350, and freshman Elizabeth Price in her NCAA debut pulled in the highest score of the meet with her 9.950 on vault despite originally not being on the lineup (she’s recovering from a broken foot).

Judging by the scores, there’s definitely work to be done in terms of cleaning up because they’re not going to challenge with only one score in the 9.9s, but once Vaculik is back and healthy and they field six athletes on each event, the overall picture of their team won’t be doom and gloom.

Cal, meanwhile, had a solid – if not explosive – debut for the season, winning the team title with a 195.175, their second-highest score in a season opener in program history. There were a couple of falls, but none that counted, and while they too need to work on tightening up skills, they at least remained cool and composed which is pretty much all you can ask for this early in the year.

The standout was freshman Toni-Ann Williams, who competed at two World Championships for Jamaica while training in the U.S. She was a superstar in her debut, earning the team’s top score – a 9.875 – on both vault and floor in addition to a 9.850 on bars. She’s a very exciting gymnast and has the potential to be a game-changer for Cal as they attempt to rise this season.

UC Davis placed second with a 194.350, San Jose State was third with a 194.050, and Sacramento State tied Stanford for fourth with a 193.450.

#23 Central Michigan Defeats UW-Eau Claire [Results]

Central Michigan fought through some falls to earn a 192.550 for the win against division III team UW-Eau Claire, who finished with a 183.800. Bright spots for the Chippewa included Halle Moraw on beam and floor and Kylie Fagan on bars. For Eau Claire, Elizabeth Stubbs was solid on beam and floor while Victoria Erickson was the unopposed all-around champ with a 37.025.

Team High Scores

All-Around High Scores

Article by Lauren Hopkins
Photo thanks to Cal Gymnastics