Cal's No. 4 Women's Gymnastics Team Fails to Reach Finals

A pair of falls on the uneven bars hurt Cal's chances to compete for the NCAA women's gymnastics championships as the fourth-ranked Bears finished third in the semiofinals on Thursday in Fort EWorth, Texas.

Only two of the four teams competing in Cal's group advanced to Saturday's Four on the Floor finals, so the Bears season is over.

Cal finished with a score of 196.9125, which was not good enough as sixth-ranked LDSU finished first in that semifinal group with a score of 197.475 and third-ranked Florida was second with a score of 197.400. Denver finished fourth with a score of 196.500.

The Bears did well in their first rotation, which was the floor exercise. All five Cal gymnasts had a score of 9.8375 or better to secure a 49.4125.

Cal moved on to vault and once again recorded a handful of strong, consistent scores. The Bears' 49.3500 would end up as the top vault score of the session and put the team in first place after two rotations.

Cal took a small lead to the bars, but unfortunately the Bears suffered two falls and was forced to use one of those scores.

Here is the NCAA.com report of Cal's performance on the bars:

This third rotation, however, did feature some scary moments for Denver and Cal fans as there were three falls from the two schools. Tough falls from Cal’s Gabby Perea and Ella Cesario on bars took the Bears from first to third place entering the final rotation, while Bella Mabanta's fall on beam for Denver was dropped out. LSU's Haleigh Bryant had a team-high score of 9.8625 on vault as LSU sits behind Florida by just .100.

The Bears' team score of 48.7125 on the bars dropped Cal into third place, and the Bears could not make up the deficit on their final rotation, the vault.

Utah and Oklahoma advanced to the finals in the other semifinals, but fifth-ranked UCLA finished third and was eliminated.

Cover photo by Matthew Smith

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