Spartans head back to Berkeley for meet with Cal, Washington

By Kavin Mistry:

It has been a steep learning curve for this season’s San Jose State gymnastics team through its first two meets, dealing with a younger core group and competing against some of the elite teams in California.

Saturday night will be no different. SJSU heads back up to the campus of UC Berkeley for a meet with two members of the Pac-12.

“I am feeling really good,” said head coach Wayne Wright. “We are young, but strong and I am really excited about where we can go.”

The Spartans are hoping to have another lights-out performance from freshman Taylor Chan, who was named Mountain West freshman of the week for her performance against Sacramento State.

Chan finished tied for first on the vault scoring a 9.775 and tied for second on the floor scoring a 9.825.

Wright said while his freshman are developing well, it hasn’t been without help from the veterans on the team helping show the ropes.

Senior Rachel Heinl has done just that. In her final season as a Spartan, Heinl is currently first in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) on bars, averaging a 9.825.

The Spartans youth was certainly exposed in the first meet of the season when the team performed tremendously in its first three events before committing four faults on the beam to end the night.

“Beam is a hard event, it seems to be the event that makes or breaks your team,” Wright said.

This weekend the Spartans will begin the meet on the beam, something Wright said will be good for the team to help his team overcome any anxiety.

On the flipside, SJSU will be facing UC Berkeley, a team that beat them in the Spartans first meet of the season, scoring 195.325.

The Spartans will be looking for a better result when they leave the Golden Bears gym on Saturday night.

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