By Natalie Hilderbrand on January 21, 2020

Women’s gymnastics fell to No. 8 Cal, 195.550-197.325, in a hard-fought meet in Berkeley on Sunday. In front of a crowd of over 1,400 Bears fans, the No. 25 Cardinal started out with a tough round on bars, and despite coming back with season-bests in vault and floor, were bested in each event.

The meet started out with an uncharacteristically low 48.425 for Stanford on the uneven bars. When Cal got to bars, however, they dominated the event, earning a score of 49.575. Despite great improvements in performance throughout the rest of the meet, this 1.150 point difference was too great to overcome.

On bars, all-around junior Kyla Bryant and all-around sophomore Grace Waguespack put up strong performances, earning 9.800 and 9.775, respectively. The Bears, however, saw outstanding performances on bars from everyone, the lowest scores being 9.825s. Cal’s all-around junior Emi Watterson put up a score of 9.975 in the event.

Next, the Cardinal switched to vault, where they started regaining momentum. After an unusually low score on bars for all-around freshman Chloe Widner, she came back strong in vault with a great performance of 9.825. Sophomore Madi Brunette had the same score, contributing to the Cardinal’s comeback as well.

Cal saw several outstanding performances as well, with scores of 9.875 from all-around junior Kyana George and three 9.800s. Stanford scored a total of 49.000 on vault, only 0.050 points behind Cal in that event.

Stanford then moved to the floor, where it saw another season-high score of 49.250. The team saw several strong routines, with a 9.925 from Bryant and 9.875 from Brunette. Despite this, Cal outscored the Cardinal by 0.175 points.

The Golden Bears had another excellent round on floor. George put up another standout score of 9.950, and her teammates, all-around sophomores Milan Clausi and Maya Bordas, followed closely behind.

Finally, the Cardinal moved onto beam, where they scored a solid 48.875. Widner and all-around junior Lauren Navarro had strong performances, leading Stanford with scores of 9.825. On the team’s last performance of the day, Bryant fell on the difficult dismount of her routine.

Cal put up another great performance, with great scores all around, earning a beam score of 49.275, outscoring the Cardinal by 0.400 points to finish off the meet.

The Cardinal’s next matchup is a home meet against No. 2 UCLA on Monday, Jan. 27 at 7 p.m.