Best in the Pac! Cal Women's Gymnastics wins 1st outright Pac-12 regular season title!
Golden Bears set a new program best team score of 198.550 in Sunday's "Big Meet" win at Stanford
In a dramatic fashion, Cal Women's Gymnastics completed a perfect 7-0 run through the Pac-12 in 2024 en route to the program's first (and sadly last) outright Pac-12 regular season championship title. California Golden Bears rewrote their record book by posting a new program-best team score of 198.55 from Maples Pavilion in Stanford. While Stanford also posted their season-best score by a huge margin, the "Big Meet" went to Cal by a 198.550 to 197.975 final score.
Congratulations to the Cal Women's Gymnastics team on achieving this important milestone for the program!
Overcoming the pressure of expectation from being the top-ranked Pac-12 squad all season long, Cal took the best shot from Stanford and needed a clutch balance beam rotation from routines 2-6 in the lineups to seal the conference title. Although the baseball cap on top of the bun is a weird look (then again, those big hats have also somehow become fashionable in recent years), the image below will be cherished.
You can check out the highlight clip or the full Big Meet below.
2024 Big Meet:
Leading the way for the Cal Bears are again their two stars in sophomore eMjae Frazier and junior Mya Lauzon. eMjae Frazier replicated her Cal record all-around score of 39.825 achieved two weekends ago at UCLA. Mya Lauzon, thanks to her second perfect 10 of the season on the balance beam, matched her own career/season high of 39.775. By NQS, Frazier is now the No.2 all-arounder in the country. Lauzon is just two spots behind at No.4.
On their Senior Day, Stanford had a great meet, but the Cal Bears just did their thing. Cal started the meet with a third-best team score ever on the uneven bars with 49.700 when all six gymnasts recorded 9.90 or better and a near-perfect 9.975 for Frazier. After a solid but certainly improvable vault rotation of 49.275, it became a special meet when the Cal Bears set a program-best record on floor exercises with 49.750 with all six routines besting 9.90 and two near-perfect routines (9.975) for Lauzon and Frazier.
Uncharacteristically, senior Andi Li fell off the beam to open the final rotation for the Cal Bears. But the Cal Bears will not be fazed. Maddie Williams (9.95), Ella Cesario (9.95), eMjae Frazier (9.95), Mya Lauzon (10.0), and Gabby Perea (9.975) all excelled in their routines to clinch the win and outright conference regular season championship.
Junior Ella Cesario also set a new personal record with a 39.650 in all-around.
In hindsight, this was the better way to win than had the Bears cruised to the victory. Stanford had their own perfect balance beam routine with a perfect 10 from Chloe Widner and their team score of 197.975 is an incredible score for a team that has not exceeded 197 before Sunday. Cal really could not have afforded another fall on the beam, and this will be the kind of pressure that the Bears will need to overcome in the postseason to get to where they could go.
Now that the first big milestone has been achieved, the next big milestone would be a win at the Pac-12 Championships for the first time. Cal had purposely scheduled a meet at the same venue earlier this year to be more familiar with the equipment at the Maverik Center, near the home base of Utah. Cal beating Utah at that meet will be another milestone achievement.
Cal Bears will host two more tri-meets at Haas Pavilion in the upcoming weekends (Friday and Sunday) before the postseason.
Despite the record-high team score, Cal actually slipped on the national rankings from 2 to 3 because LSU also posted a big road score to replace a much weaker score for the NQS calculation. Cal could use another home team score or two above 198 to improve their NQS score for postseason seeding purposes. That final NQS ranking will decide who will come to Berkeley on April 3-7 for the NCAA Regional hosted by the Bears.
It would be great for Cal to continue their run of three consecutive 198+ scores (also a first in program history), but it is also possible that some of the key gymnasts will be rested (possibly just for some apparatuses) on Friday for the Bears to showcase their depth. Regardless of the lineups, this is a special team doing special things! Don't miss the final four chances to see the Cal Bears at Haas this year!
ROLL ON YOU BEARS!
GO BEARS!!!
As a former long time coach of Football and Track, I can notice good athletes. These women are GREAT athletes. If you have a chance, watch one of their televised competitions. I guarantee you'll be impressed.