No.3 Cal Women's Gymnastics breaks program records in win at No.9 UCLA on Sunday

eMjae Frazier set a new Cal all-around record (39.825) in leading the team to a new Cal-record team score of 198.400

Sometimes, a little sibling rivalry is all that is needed to bring out the best!

Cal sophomore eMjae Frazier broke her own Cal program record for all-around, scoring 39.825 in front of her entire family, including older sister Margzetta Frazier, a 5th-year senior on the UCLA Bruins.

No.3 California Golden Bears stay perfect in Pac-12 competitions with a new program-best team score of 198.400 thanks to a pair of perfect 10s: one from eMjae Frazier on the floor and another from junior Mya Lauzon on the beam. The younger sibling school UCLA did post a solid score of 197.775, but the original University of California was never threatened on a record-breaking Sunday afternoon from Pauley Pavilion in Westwood.

This record-breaking meet is not a surprise for anyone who has followed Cal Women’s Gymnastics this season. The program has reached the level of national championship contender for the first time in its 50-year history. There were hints of this new record-high score as soon as the first meet of the season, and with the gymnasts refining their routines and several home meets coming up, the records set on Sunday may be rewritten as soon as this Saturday in Cal’s next home meet.

Even though they have earned a share of the Pac-12 regular season title in the past two seasons, Cal Golden Bears (12-3, 5-0-0 in Pac-12) are looking for a first (and, of course, last) outright Pac-12 regular season title. No.3 Cal will host No.4 Utah (9-3, 5-0-0 in Pac-12) in a pivotal meet next Saturday at Haas Pavilion at 2 PM PT.

“We need to pack Haas Pavilion,” Cal co-head coach Justin Howell said. “We have a great environment at Haas. Fans can expect a great show in a family-friendly environment. What is very interesting about gymnastics is how the energy in the building from the fans impacts everything. We are all human beings, including the judges. The more energy that we have in the building, [the better the chance for] some great performances. So let’s pack it!”

While eMjae Frazier was the clear star of the meet (and you should check out the full highlight video below), Cal as a squad hit on all 24 routines. My only slight disappointment as a Cal alum/fan/blogger who got to experience this historic meet in person was how the Golden Bears opted to not don the infamous Bear head in this meet (it was there on the sideline), possibly due to the confusion that UCLA are the Bruins.

It is a bit hard to believe now, but before last year, the only “perfect 10's” in Cal Women’s Gymnastics history were only four routines¹: two vaults from Toni-Ann Williams, one uneven bars routine by Cindy Tom in 1992 and another by Emi Watterson in 2021, done with the distinction of her wearing a mask during the COVID pandemic. Last year (2023), Cal added two to that count with the first floor exercise 10 in program history from eMjae Frazier at LSU and then a first balance beam 10 in program history from Mya Lauzon at home. This year, eMjae Frazier earned a perfect 10 on beam at the Sprouts Farmers Market Collegiate Quad in the season’s second meet. On Sunday, Cal registered two perfect 10s in one meet for the first time in program history. eMjae Frazier first earned a perfect 10 for her floor exercise in the 3rd rotation.

Junior Mya Lauzon earned her second perfect 10 on beam of her career in the final rotation, breaking the Cal team score record in the process (the record team score will be rewritten one routine later when Gabby Perea earned a 9.925 to drop a 9.850 score).

With her 3rd perfect 10 of her still young collegiate career, eMjae Frazier is the first Cal gymnast to have that many. She is also great enough on vault and bars to potentially get a career “Gym Slam” at some point. Curiously, Frazier has yet to earn a perfect 10 at home, but Cal’s 2024 schedule is backloaded in home meets.

“[eMjae] is a phenomenal athlete!” Cal co-head coach Justin Howell said. “Every single day in training, she is there with energy, bright eyes, ready to work, and intentional in getting better. Then her athletic ability just takes over.”

Golden Bears started the meet with a fantastic bars rotation where they built on the scores from 9.875, 9.875, to 9.925, and then three 9.950’s from Frazier, Perea, and Maddie Williams to tie for the program’s second-best bars rotation at 49.650.

The second rotation on vault was the lone rotation where Cal did not set a season-high. Frazier and Lauzon again lead the team with 9.900. With both freshman Kyen Mayhew and sophomore Jayden Silvers now firmly in this rotation, Cal got five routines with a starting value of 10.0 unlike just three or four in the recent past seasons. The 49.350 was about average as Cal’s vault NQS is 49.355 - good for 4th best in the country.

Cal leads UCLA 99.00 to 98.70 at the half. While the Bruins did have a sizable home crowd supporting them, the Bears continue to outshine the home squad. On floor exercise, five of the six Cal routines scored 9.9 or better. The 49.675 was tied for second-best in program history. The final rotation on the beam was even better with a 49.725 thanks to three scores being 9.95+.

All four Cal Bears that did the all-around had a memorable meet. While Mya Lauzon did not quite match her previous career high (and previous Cal record) of 39.775, her 39.700 improved her NQS to 39.675, good for 4th best in the nation. Maddie Williams hit a season-high with 39.600 besting UCLA’s Selena Harris (6th nationally in All-Around) and Katelyn Rosen who both got 36.525. Ella Cesario registered a 39.475 for a new career-high.

UCLA Bruins rebounded nicely after a slow start on vault, but they could not catch the Cal Bears. eMjae Frazier told the Pac-12 Networks how having her family present was a motivator for her historic meet. She also mentioned to me that this was her first meet at Pauley Pavilion, after being there many times as a spectator. While the two Frazier sisters have competed in the same meet numerous times in college, this was the first time that eMjae was able to watch birthday girl Margzetta perform on the bars in the second rotation.

In the post-meet interview with the Pac-12 Network, Mya Lauzon mentioned how the team made Pauley Pavilion “Our Haas”. As she telegraphed with a huge smile after her landing, Lauzon also knew that she got her second perfect 10 on balance beam.

Perhaps due to the perfect 10s, there are also now the new promotional $10 tickets for this Saturday’s meet against Utah with the promo code. “Our Haas” is indeed the rallying cry for Cal Women’s Gymnastics. I guess they are more Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young or Madness (whose song by that name is perhaps more apt for the Cal Band) than Men’s Basketball’s “Haas of Pain” moniker for Haas Pavilion that evokes the jock-rock anthem “Jump Around”.

An interesting tidbit from Head Coach Justin Howell was about how the team is using data to make some data-driven decisions going into the second half. In my past interviews with the co-head coaches Justin Howell and Liz Crandell-Howell, they have always talked about embracing all the resources on campus. With the number of smart people in different fields in Berkeley, Cal Women’s Gymnastics had credited working with a sports psychologist on campus. They are now using data more effectively.

Justin Howell mentioned how they have made some choreography and lineup order choices based on the data. Enough data exists to say what combinations will generally get a higher score from the judges and also where to place gymnasts in the lineup to maximize points. Specifically, they swapped Lauzon and senior Andi Li in the meet-opening uneven bars rotation on Sunday. Bars is arguably Lauzon’s weakest routine (she mainly competed in only the other three events last year). Li earned a 9.925 as the 3rd routine, a season-high that was more in line with her scores from 2023. Can’t argue with that result.

A notable thing about this Cal squad is the diversity in skills displayed by the gymnasts. Other than vaults which are fairly uniform across collegiate gymnastics, Cal Bears have some really interesting differences in routines. Senior Gabby Perea’s bars and beam routines are both so different from what most other competitors are doing. Cal’s other specialists like junior Jordan Kane and freshman Kyen Mayhew also make their floor exercise routines stand out with martial art-ish kicks or dance moves, respectively.

Now that the Cal Bears have achieved 198.400, it is time to surpass that. Either due to the familiarity with the equipment or the home crowd influencing the judges via their thunderous applause, gymnastics teams tend to score better at home ahead of the postseason with twice as many judges looking for deductions. The previous Cal record score of 198.275 came in the final home meet of last year. Golden Bears will have two more tri-meets at Haas after the Utah meet this weekend. Then, Cal will host an NCAA Regional (Apr 3-7) and likely have two more home meets this season.

https://twitter.com/CalWGym/status/1756797348901196019

“We are still on the rise!” eMjae Frazier said. “Our team has so much more to give. Even with the great day [Sunday], there are those little details that we are working on that will come. We are still coming up, and I can’t wait for the rest of the season to put on great shows and peak.”

Despite the historic day on Sunday, the best of 2024 Cal Women’s Gymnastics should be yet to come. You want to be at Haas when that happens!

1. To be fair, perfect 10s have become more common in collegiate gymnastics. I would like to believe that this is more due to better athletes and training, but point inflation is a genuine complaint from some collegiate gymnastics experts.