'24 NCAA runner-up Cal Women's Gymnastics might be even better in 2025
Cal Women's Gymnastics hosts rival Stanford in Big Meet on Friday night at 7 PM PT
In case you missed it, Cal Women’s Gymnastics has become a national powerhouse. The steady improvement of the program since it was nearly cut back in 2010 has it near the mountain top of the sport.
In 2024, Cal Women’s Gymnastics not only made the NCAA Championship Final for the first time in program history, but the Golden Bears finished just behind LSU as the national runner-up. Cal got to perform on national TV then (the NCAA Championship Final session was on ABC). They also earned a national TV appearance already in week 2 of this 2025 season.
Returning a majority of the lineup while adding some impact newcomers, Cal will attempt to take that last, but certainly hardest, final step to the first team national championship in program history.
Even without the success on the floor, this squad of California Golden Bears is simply fun to watch. The student-athletes are great entertainers and display both artistry and athleticism on a weekly basis. You want to go support them in person if you can!
It is time for the long overdue post on this team. I was able to attend Cal’s season opener in Oceanside, CA when the Golden Bears defeated former Pac-12 foes UCLA and Oregon State at the American Gold Collegiate Classic. I got to chat with co-head coach Justin Howell and senior star Mya Lauzon at the end of that meet.
Returning Stars
Cal graduated two lineup mainstays in Andi Li and Gabby Perea while losing two bars, two beam, and one floor routines from the 2024 NCAA Championship Final. In other words, 19/24 routines from that final session returned.
Given the talent and depth of the squad last season, it was a bit unexpected for the Golden Bears to have four all-around gymnasts. Yet all four all-arounders, senior Mya Lauzon, junior eMjae Frazier, senior Ella Cesario, and senior Maddie Williams, are back and retained their spots in the 2025 season thus far.
Rightfully garnering national attention in the preseason were both Mya Lauzon and eMjae Frazier. Both can break and set a new all-around score in any given meet, having the track record of earning multiple perfect 10’s in their collegiate career: Lauzon got in on vault (once) and beam (3x); Frazier got it on beam (once) and floor (2x).
One can easily identify Lauzon as the one with the biggest smile on her face almost constantly. She embodies one of the program’s often-cited core principles of joy: which is also the key to how the team manages the higher expectations of this season.
So far on the season, Lauzon has a team-high two ACC Gymnast of the Week honors.
eMjae Frazier gives Cal another superstar gymnast capable of putting up four 9.9+ scores in any given meet. Frazier, arguably the most athletically gifted on the squad (especially during the rare occasions where she can save a routine when mere mortals would have fallen), has come up the biggest on the biggest stage: Cal’s week 2 meet in Oklahoma City against defending champion LSU and perennial national powers Oklahoma and Utah when she scored 39.550 (and the ACC Gymnast of the Week honor). By her lofty standard, Frazier has yet to hit her stride in 2025 with more 9.8’s than 9.9’s. I am not that worried about that though.
Despite expressing surprise on her face when she has a hit routine, Ella Cesario has become a reliable source of four solid scores. Cesario had a career day at Cal’s first home meet of the season against Clemson when she won the vault, bars, and all-around titles en route to the ACC Gymnast of the Week honor. Cesario has stepped up a bit in her senior season, some of that can be credited to Cal’s improved practice facility (more on this below).
Last but not least, Maddie Williams is the 3rd senior and 4th Cal Bears who can be counted on four 9.8+ scores. Williams consistently earned 9.9+ on bars last year and can also often hit that mark on beam.
Other returning routines include sophmore Kyen Mayhew on vault and floor, sophomore Jayden Silvers on vault, and senior Jordan Kane on floor. Mayhew has expanded her role to do three routines this year: vault, floor, and beam. Jordan Kane has now been added to the beam lineup while also prepping a bars routine (more often in exhibition and just once in competition). Silvers has dropped out of the lineup for the most part, having just one vault on the year.
Consistency has been a bit of an early issue for Mayhew and Kane compared to last year. Both were very reliable down the stretch last year, so there is always that history for optimism. Kane got injured in the Clemson meet. She was held out of the lineup last weekend at NC State.
Impact Newcomers
The improvement of the Cal program to become a new national power has also led to more accomplished student-athletes coming to Cal. Unlike most of the other sports, women’s gymnasts typically peaked before college. They actually perform more pared-down routines in college than at the elite level because the easier skills are enough for the full 10.0 starting value.
Joining the upperclassmen is a large group of newcomers vying to stay in the deep Cal lineup. Five freshmen are on the team in 2025, and three of them got to perform in the opening meet. Mya Wiley cracked the lineup on vault and bars. Wiley gave Cal another 10.0 starting value vault. Sage Melkonian and CJ Keuneke each got an exhibition routine on vault and floor, respectively.
Wiley has had some freshman jitters early. Cal certainly could use her at her best by the end of the season, especially her vault. Yet the coaches have eased her off to just exhibition in recent meets.
CJ Keuneke, on the other hand, has trended in a promising way. After her exhibition in opening week, Keuneke cracked the Cal floor lineup and produced a 9.825 and a 9.9 in competition.
Another freshman Brianna Taurek has also got one floor exercise in competition. She got the pressure-free (Cal already got 5 good scores) floor anchor spot last week.
The most exciting member of this freshman class is Ondine Achampong, the Great Britain senior team member. Already training (there are videos of her beam routine online) but not yet making her collegiate debut, Ondine Achampong should help Cal’s beam rotation this year. Achampong has easily the highest ceiling out of this freshmen group. After deferring her arrival in Berkeley by a year, she looked like a lock to make the Great Britain Olympic Team in 2024. Unfortunately, the British medal hopeful and World Silver Medalist tore her ACL in late April. One would expect Cal to err on the side of caution with Achampong since ACL recovery often takes nearly a full year.
Stepping up
One of the best parts of following collegiate sports is seeing the student-athlete improve over the year. Cracking the Cal lineup in her junior year is Casey Brown on bars. Brown has already been pressed into the pressure anchor spot of uneven bars and hit twice to allow Cal to not count a fall.
Also available on bars and switching between exhibition and competition is sophomore Annalise Newman-Achee.
The best moment from Cal’s most recent meet was the collegiate debut of senior Abby Scanlon on beam. Overcoming injuries, she earned a 9.95 for her first event win. I am not sure that anyone expected that near-flawless performance, but she certainly earned consideration as a part of that Cal beam depth.
2025 Season Quick Recap
After five weeks of meets, Cal is 8-2 on the year and 2-0 in the ACC.
Collegiate gymnastics rankings are determined purely from the team score. Head coach Justin Howell told me that the early season scores might be a bit lower this year due to the new SCORE Board system in its pilot season to evaluate the NCAA judges. “In a nutshell, it’s a judges evaluation system,” Howell said, “Everyone will be working out the kinks. What you should see is a fair and consistent scoring across the country.” One can find more information on SCORE Board in this College Gymn News article. Judges might be a bit more reluctant to give out 10’s in this system, but consistency in judging will benefit the sport in the long run.
By the end of the year, Cal’s postseason seed and placement will be determined by the National Qualifying Score (NQS). NQS is calculated by considering only the top-6 scores from the year, with three from the road. The best overall score is dropped and the NQS is the average of the next five scores.
The 2025 NCAA Regionals (April 2nd-6th) sites are pre-determined to be Salt Lake City (Utah), Seattle (Washington), Tuscaloosa (Alabama), and University Park (Penn State). The NCAA Championships will again be hosted by Dickies Arena in Fort Worth, Texas on April 17th and 19th
Cal is currently ranked 7th nationally with a season-best team score of 197.275 from week 2. By the end of the season, Cal’s NQS will hopefully be based on six meets to come and all above 197.500 (with hopefully at least a couple of 198+). Including the meet tonight, Cal has eight more meets before the postseason.
https://x.com/CalWGym/status/1878652529929839071
In week one, Cal defeated UCLA and Oregon State despite the presence of USA Olympics stars Jordan Chiles and Jade Carey on those squads, respectively. In the nationally televised meet in week 2 (Sprouts Famers Market Collegiate Quad), Cal beat Utah but were behind LSU and Oklahoma (Sooners were back with a vengeance after an uncharacteristic early exit in the postseason last year).
One might be slightly disappointed by the final team scores despite the victories at UC Davis (defeating host UC Davis, Cornell, and Alaska), over Clemson in the home opener, and at NC State last weekend. Nonetheless, Cal is one of only a handful of teams to not count a fall this season. While there is obvious room for improvement, Cal Bears are thriving under the enormous pressure from being so close to the national title.
Renovated Practice Facility may be the missing piece to a championship
With the perfect blend of returning experience and young talent, Cal’s plan for this final bit of ascension as well as staying power is a facility improvement.
“When you walk into the facility, there are beautiful brandings and bright colors that make you feel excited in that space,“ Justin Howell said, “It brings a different energy.”
Because the NCAA Championship final (and often the conference championship) takes place on a raised podium, Cal has traditionally tried to prepare the team for that by scheduling meets on the bouncier podium setup. Cal’s first two meets this year were on podiums.
“We built everything up on podiums,” Howell said, “That gives us an advantage because we are used to the bounce of the podium because we train on it everyday.”
“We have some new setups in the gym that allow us to train more difficult skills. Ella Cesario added a full-twist double back in her first pass [of floor exercise] and our facility helped that.”
Small differences like this may be the competitive edge that pushes this team to the top!
Season Outlook
From talking to Cal Women’s Gymnastics in the past couple of years, they love it when Haas Pavilion is packed with fans. Including tonight, there are four more meets this year.
For a good vibe, a great show, and a very high probability of Cal Bears victories (especially over Stanford in two of these meets), head to Haas Pavilion on the above dates to experience Cal Women’s Gymnastics in person this year!
ROLL ON YOU BEARS!
Lauzon’s Walk-Off 10 Lifts No. 7 Bears Over No. 13 Cardinal
BERKELEY – There was pandemonium at Haas Pavilion Friday night as the No. 7 California women's gymnastics team won the first Big Meet in the ACC era in dramatic fashion defeating No. 13 Stanford 197.550-197.400. Both the Golden Bears and the Cardinal had their best performances of the season in a contest that came down to the final routine. With the meet on the line senior Mya Lauzon anchored the floor exercise lineup with a walk-off perfect 10, the first of her career on that event.
https://calbears.com/news/2025/2/8/womens-gymnastics-lauzons-walk-off-10-lifts-no-7-bears-over-no-13-cardinal.aspx
Mya and eMjae are my two favorite Cal athletes this year (with Ella very close behind) and a gym meet is so much fun. Please get down there and support the team!
Damon Moore and I also sat right in front of Casey Brown’s dad in Oceanside and he is an absolute madman! You’ll definitely notice him at the meets, leading cheers and firing up the Cal section