The San José State women’s gymnastics team placed second with a score of 196.100 in its tri-meet against Air Force and UC Davis at home Sunday.
The Spartans narrowly lost to Air Force, which scored a 196.300, a mere two-tenths more than SJSU and beat UC Davis by more than three points.
SJSU head coach Joanne Bowers said the team needed to take care of the “little things,” but that the athletes’ enjoyment was paramount.
“If you land and you shuffle your feet … you’ve opened the door for (the judges) to get to decide, so you can’t blame it on them,” Bowers said. “Then, if you don’t like the scores, if you look around and see the other teams, are you going to let them steal your joy? Or are you going to ignore that, keep your joy and do the best you can?”
Senior Mikaela Pitts said she was proud of the team’s performance despite the meet’s outcome.
“We just focus on what’s in our control,” Pitts said. “We just focus on the next meet and leave everything in the past.”
Air Force junior Maggie Slife, who was named the 2024 Mountain West Freshman of the Year, dominated the competition, ranking first in every event except vault, where she placed second behind Pitts.
Two Spartans, sophomore all-around Ava Johnson and freshman all-around Sophie Patterson, tied for third on the vault, each earning 9.800 points.
“We were coming back from a little behind and we really put some good scores up there, so I was really happy,” Patterson said. “And then floor, we just put all of our energy out there so (we were) really good as a team, too.”
Patterson tied with Air Force sophomore Anna Bacott for the second-highest score on the balance beam with 9.875 points.
On the floor, Johnson tied for third with UC Davis’s Amelia Moneymaker (9.875), while junior Kaylee Larson tied for fifth with Air Force’s Sarah Willis (9.850).
Air Force’s Maggie Slife and Alyssa Bigler topped the floor rankings with 9.925 points each.
“Obviously, we’re still growing,” Patterson said. “We’re still trying to reach our peak … but we’re focused on our scores and our scores are still going up, which we’re glad with.”
At their last home meet, the Spartans defeated Utah State University with a score of 196.350.
“I think today we were a lot more rushed than usual,” Pitts said. “It happens kind of later on in the season, NQS (National Qualifying Score) scores start to come down, so I think we were just really trying to focus on scores a little more versus before in the season.”
With spectators cheering, music blasting and three teams rotating across four events, it can be difficult for gymnasts to “stay in their bubble.”
Pitts said the Spartans did as much as they could to prepare for distracting elements.
“We do distraction beam where we’re loud and we’re screaming at whoever’s going and doing their routine,” Pitts said. “We try to focus on … not really looking around at other teams or at families, but … (paying) attention to what our team needs.”
The Spartans will travel to Sacramento State on Friday for a 6:30 p.m. meet, marking the team’s first double-meet weekend.
Their Senior Meet is scheduled to take place at 2 p.m. the following Sunday at the Provident Credit Union Event Center.
“It’s gonna be sad, but I’m super excited,” Pitts said. “One of our teammates has a sibling on (Sacramento State) and we’re close with Sac … so it’s going to be super fun – a nice little Bay Area party.”
