Price Is Perfect

       
STANFORD, Calif. – Senior Elizabeth Price recorded her second perfect 10 of the season and No. 25 Stanford tallied its highest point total of 2018, but it wasn't enough to defeat No. 23 Cal on Saturday night at Maples Pavilion.
 
The upset-minded Cardinal gave the Bears a big scare in the final rotation, posting six scores of 9.800 or higher on floor exercise and scored 49.375. Cal posted 49.100 on the balance beam to win, 196.700-196.425.
 
Price saved her best for last. The last student-athlete to compete, she produced a flawless performance that dazzled her head coach, teammates and an appreciative crowd of 750.
 
The Coopersburg, Pennsylvania native now has three career 10's. She earned a perfect mark on the uneven bars in the season-opening NorCal Classic at Maples, and garnered a 10 on vault against Oregon State as a freshman in 2015.
 
"She is out of this world," said Stanford head coach Tabitha Yim, the most decorated gymnast in program history. "It's so much fun to watch her. Just in her senior year to be able to do what she's doing – adding the yurchenko double – and ending with a 10. I'm really proud of her continued growth."
 
Price won three events and her fifth all-around title of the year, scoring a season-high 9.975 on vault and added 9.900 on the uneven bars. Her all-around total of 39.675 was just shy of the personal best she set against Arizona State (39.775) earlier this month.
 
"She's a rock star," Yim said. "She makes it look so easy. That's what is so special about her. She does these incredible, super-human things, and then just walks back like it's nothing."

Yim had nothing but praise for the effort and composure of her young squad. Nine of the 13 are underclassmen.
 
"I really feel they rose up and covered each other tonight," said Yim. "We were in a tough situation on bars – we had someone go down – and in the next routine, freshman Catherine Rogers, in her first time in the lineup coming back from injury, handled the moment and gave us a lot of energy. The same thing on beam and Rachael (Flam) came back with an aggressive routine to get things back on track. It was a great team effort."
 
Freshman Kyla Bryant claimed the balance beam by matching her season-high of 9.875. She added a fourth and two sixths to finish third in the all-around (39.375).
 
Stanford returns to competition next Saturday at Washington.
 
"Elizabeth's 10 was a perfect way to end the meet," Yim said. "Hopefully we can carry that momentum over to Seattle."