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Pac-12 Gymnastics 'Meet of the Week' preview: No. 19 California at No. 4 UCLA

by Jocelyn Perry
Mar 4, 2017

The matchup: No. 19 California (11-3, 4-2 Pac-12) at No. 4 UCLA (7-2, 4-1)

When: Sunday, March 5, 1 p.m. PT/2 p.m. MT on Pac-12 Network, Bay Area, Los Angeles

On the Call: Jim Watson and Amanda Borden

On the Meet: The final week of Pac-12 competition is upon us, and the latest Meet of the Week matchup features the No. 19 California Golden Bears heading south to face the No. 4 UCLA Bruins. With only one meet remaining after this week to collect key scores for Regional Qualifying Score (RQS) rankings, much is on the line in the waning time.

On the Visitors: California (11-3, 4-2 Pac-12)

The 19th-ranked Cal Golden Bears have been performing impressively despite losing key members in their lineups. Cal currently holds an RQS of 196.000, and needs to score above a 195.325 to drop its lowest road score of the season. Why is this important? Pac-12 Championships are around the corner and Cal and Washington are battling for that final evening slot, which will be awarded to the team with the higher RQS ranking. UCLA, Utah and Oregon State are all locked in for the first three slots, and No. 19 Cal is right on the heels of No. 17 Washington. Adding to the mix is NCAA Regionals, as the top 18 teams in the nation receive seeded placements in the six regional pods.

Golden Bears to watch:

Sofie Seilnacht, 5-7, Sophomore: The Fremont, Calif., native recorded her second beam title of the season on Feb. 25 with her career-high 9.925 at the leadoff spot in the lineup. That mark was the fifth 9.925 on beam in school history.

Arianna Robinson, 5-2, Junior: *Siren emoji* Watch this vault! Robinson’s front handspring is a nice change of pace from the back handspring Yurchenko’s most gymnasts are performing in the NCAA. But WAIT FOR IT, she’s also pretty good at it too:

Alicia Gallarzo, 5-3, Junior: Gallarzo scored a career-high 9.925 a few weeks back on bars. Check out her double layout dismount below:

On the Home team:
No. 4 UCLA (11-3, 4-2 Pac-12) The fourth-ranked Bruins are in their third meet of a four-meet homestand at Pauley Pavilion. UCLA ranks in the top 10 nationally on all four events, vault (sixth), bars (second), beam (third) and floor (eighth). The Bruins slid up to fourth place in the RQS standings, and is trying to hold off fifth-ranked Utah. With the Red Rocks having already competed on Friday (shoutout to MyKayla Skinner’s first perfect 10.0), the Bruins need to score north of a 197.1 to remain fourth.

Bruins to watch:
Macy Toronjo, 4-11, Redshirt Freshman: Toronjo entered the floor lineup on the Bruins’ Monday tri-meet a few weeks back and wowed us all with a 9.9 on floor. Toronjo battled through injury and illness to get back in the main lineup, and she delivered the following week with a 9.925. AHMAZING.

Katelyn Ohashi, 4-10, Sophomore:
Don’t let size fool you. The 4-10 beam queen, who battled UCLA women's basketball's Monique Billings, throws arguably one of the hardest three-flight series on the 4-inch-wide apparatus in the NCAA. Here’s her back handspring/back handspring/layout full aka OH MY GOODNESS:

Hallie Mossett, 5-2, Senior:

Mossett is your reigning Pac-12 Specialist of the Week, after her 9.975 floor performance. Call up the BeyHive, she co-choreographed her floor routine with head coach Valorie Kondos Field and incorporated some of Beyonce’s best hits:

The regular season is coming to a close and if one thing is true, these teams are getting primed for the postseason.

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