Aggies add five gymnastics prospects
UC Davis women’s gymnastics coach John Lavalle announced this week that five prospective student-athletes have signed national letters of intent during the November signing period.
Taylor Baron of Walnut Creek, Dani Judal of Antelope, Katy Nogaki of Villa Park, Steph Stamates of Alamo and Jamie Yamashita of San Marcos are expected to compete for the Aggies next season.
“I think this recruiting class brings a good level of experience and success,” Lavallee said. “They have a very high skill level, more so than we’ve had in a lot of classes. They’ve competed at Junior Olympic National Championships and the NIT. Katy won an event at the NIT, which is very good company. That’s one of the most encouraging things about this entire class is that they’re all proven performers in competition. The level of the performers and the number of them really has us excited about this group.”
Northgate High’s Baron made the jump to Level 10 in 2010, placing sixth on beam at the NorCal State Championships and qualifying for the Region 1 meet that year. Last spring, she placed ninth on floor exercise.
Judal, who attends Antelope High, tied for sixth on beam at the U.S. Women’s Junior Olympics national meet last May. Her all-around score of 37.525 there eclipsed her previous best by three-tenths, while her 9.450 on beam also represented a personal record. Judal previously finished second on bars, fourth on floor and in the all-around at the NorCal state championship during the 2011 season.
Villa Park High’s Nogaki represented Wildfire Gymnastics at the 2011 J.O. National Invitational. She also won the 2011 SoCal vault title with a 9.725, placed third in that event and fifth on bars at regionals, then capped her season with an NIT appearance in May.
Stamates, a student at San Ramon Valley High, qualified to the J.O. nationals in 2011, where she placed in a tie for fourth on balance beam. She advanced to the national meet after finishing seventh in the all-around at the Region 1 championships, where she posted top-eight showings on vault, bars and beam.
Yamashita, who attends San Marcos High, has competed at Level 10 for Southern California Elite Gymnastics Academy for two seasons after reaching the Level 9 Western Championship in 2009. She won the floor title in the California Classic, placed third on beam at the Southern California state meet and advanced to the J.O. National Invitational Tournament.
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Posted by Enterprise staff
on Nov 17 2011.
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