Compared to nearly any other Pac-12 school, Stanford women’s gymnastics likely had the hardest regular season.
After competing in its first meet less than a month ago, the Cardinal finished seventh as a team at the Pac-12 tournament. Stanford put up season-high performances across the four events with senior Kyla Bryant claiming a share of the Pac-12 title on the floor exercise with a season-high 9.950.
Bryant is the first Cardinal gymnast since Elizabeth Price ’18 to have earned a Pac-12 title. Price earned four in her illustrious career.
The floor exercise was Stanford’s best event all season. Counting scores of 9.825 or better, the Cardinal claimed top honors in the morning session with a 49.325 and finished fourth overall. Juniors Madison Brunette and Morgan Hoang, sophomore Chloe Widner and true freshman Amanda Zeng all earned season-highs on the event to go along with Bryant’s win.
However, the Cardinal started on the balance beam, which has been the team’s shakiest event this season, and finished with a 48.200 despite not falling once. The score placed Stanford seventh at the meet, with Washington coming in last and counting two falls on the event. Bryant again was a bright spot as she tied her season-high of 9.875 on the event.
An area that the Cardinal was looking to improve upon was the vault. With solid performances from Bryant and Widner and season-highs from true freshman Sandra Jessen, Zeng and Brunette, the Cardinal improved its vault score by five-tenths in this meet alone.
Stanford headed to its final event, the uneven bars, and kept the momentum since the start of the meet. Widner and Zeng earned season-highs on this apparatus to stamp a solid 48.800 as a team. Senior Grace Garcia led the Cardinal with a 9.850 on this event.
Stanford’s two all-arounders — Bryant and Widner — have been the backbone for this Cardinal program, and their performances throughout this season leading up to this meet have allowed the Cardinal to improve every meet. Bryant finished tied for fourth with UCLA’s Margzetta Frazier while Widner finished in ninth.
However, the Pac-12 Championships belonged to the University of Utah as the team earned nine individual Pac-12 titles and defeated the No. 1 seed Cal to claim the title.