Third-ranked Cal and No. 19 Stanford are on a collision course at the women’s gymnastics NCAA championships, making up half of the Semifinal I field on Thursday in Fort Worth, Texas.
The Bears and Cardinal, along with No 2 LSU and No. 12 Arkansas, are vying for two spots in Saturday’s championship final. Top-seeded Oklahoma, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Utah and No. 8 Alabama will claim two championship spots from Semifinal II, which also is Thursday in Fort Worth.
Oklahoma is the two-time defending champion and has won five of the past seven national titles, but the Bay Area teams enter the championships posting some of their best scores of the season.
Cal returns to the national semifinals after finishing seventh last season and is seeking its first Four on the Floor appearance. The Bears spent much of this season ranked No. 2 behind the Sooners and won the final Pac-12 title – the program’s first outright regular season crown.
The Bears capped their home regional victory last weekend with a team score of 198.275, the highest postseason mark in school history. It was the fifth time this season Cal scored at least 198 points.
Junior Mya Lauzon led the way in the regional final, becoming Cal’s first regional all-around winner and recording the team’s first postseason 10 with a perfect vault. All six Bears had a 9.8 or better in the floor routine, led by sophomore All-American eMjae Frazier’s 9.975.
Stanford is competing at the NCAA championships for the first time since 2016 and 17th time overall. The Cardinal was inconsistent early in the season and unseeded entering regionals, but defeated No. 14 Auburn and No. 6 Denver to finish second to Cal in the regional to become the first unseeded team to reach the championship meet since 2011.
The Cardinal punched its ticket to Fort Worth in dramatic fashion. Stanford was down .100 going into the final rotation, the floor routine, and fifth-year Chloe Widner completed the rotation with her first career 10.
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