BERKELEY, Calif. – For the first time since 2016, Stanford women's gymnastics will compete at the 2024 NCAA Championships in Fort Worth, Texas, April 18-20, after a second-place finish at the NCAA Regional Finals Sunday evening at Haas Pavilion.
Down .100 going into the final rotation, the Cardinal came through and matched its best floor rotation of the year to secure the victory inside Haas Pavilion. Fifth year Chloe Widner stepped up to the floor anchoring the rotation with Stanford needing a 9.875 to tie and came through with her first career 10.000 on the event for the perfect storybook ending to the meet.
The Cardinal becomes the first unseeded team to make nationals in its new format (since 2019).
No. 3 and host California won the regional final competition with a final score of 198.275. The Cardinal followed with a 197.575, No.6 Denver scored a 197.450 and No. 22 Arizona State finished with a 196.750.
Widner finished second in the all-around competition with a 39.725, her new career-best total. Alongside her 10.000 on floor, she had 9.950 on bars and beam for the second straight meet, earning shares of or the top finishes on all three events.
The Cardinal opened its night on vault, earning a 49.150. Regional vault co-champion Anapula Gutierrez and fellow junior Brenna Neault led all Stanford gymnasts with scores of 9.850, while Widner and Roberts each added scores of 9.825. Amanda Zeng rounded out the rotation with a 9.800 in the leadoff spot.
It was then onto bars, where Stanford recorded its second-best bars rotation of the season and totaled a 49.475 team score. Widner earned her second-consecutive 9.950 score on the event, while sophomore Ava Sorrento matched her career-best total with a 9.900. Senior Ira Alexeeva posted a 9.925 while Neault, Gutierrez and Roberts each added scores of 9.850.
Stanford took on beam next, totaling a 49.350 led by Widner's 9.950. Dean led off with a 9.850 to set the tone for the Cardinal, followed by a 9.825 from freshman Sienna Robinson and a 9.850 from Neault. Alexeeva added a 9.875 as the final scoring total of the rotation.
The Cardinal has a little less than two weeks of preparation before traveling to Fort Worth, Texas for the national championship meet. Stanford will compete in Semifinals Session I against Arkansas, LSU and California on April 18. The meet, slated to begin at 1:30 p.m. PT, is scheduled to be televised on ESPN2 with John Roethlisberger, Aly Raisman and Taylor Davis on the call. Each apparatus will have its own individual stream with commentary. Samantha Peszek and Bridget Sloan will commentate the vault and beam streams and Anastasia Webb and Kennedy Baker will commentate on bars and floor.
