Titans Open 2004 Season Against No. 21 California Jan. 7, 2004– Fullerton, Calif. THE SCENARIO The Cal State Fullerton women's gymnastics team opens its 2004 season
this Friday night (Jan. 9) as the Titans welcome nationally-ranked California
to Titan Gym for a 7 p.m. dual meet.
Fullerton will be looking to exact some revenge on the Golden Bears, who
beat the Titans twice last season: Jan. 19 at UCLA and Feb. 9 at California.
IN THE RANKINGS California is ranked No. 21 in the nation according to the 2004 Troester/Gym
Info preseason coaches poll released on Dec. 8, 2003. The Titans are ranked
as receiving votes to begin the year.
Seven of the Titans opponents in 2004 are either ranked in the top 25
or receiving votes in the preseason poll: UCLA (No. 1), Arizona State
(No. 9), Oregon State (No. 11), California (No. 21), Boise State (Receiving
Votes), Southern Utah (RV), Utah State (RV).
National rankings will be released every Monday morning and can be found
by logging on to www.troester.com/gym.
A QUICK LOOK AT THE TITANS Cal State Fullerton is coming off a very successful 11-8 campaign
in 2003, finishing a close second at the Western Gymnastics Conference
Championships and fourth at the NCAA Regionals in Seattle, Wash.
The Titans return nine letterwinners and 11 gymnasts overall from last
season's sqaud, let by returning seniors Latoya Milburn and Sharon Snell,
and bolstered by a core of veterans in juniors Kim Runciman, Kristy Parker,
and Annette Reyes. Sophomore's Brittany Hoffman and Brooke Weigandt will
also provide much needed scoring for the Titans in only their second season's
with the Titans.
Head Coach Julie Knight also welcomes five newcomers to the roster in
2004 – all of whom could see significant time in their rookie seasons.
Brittany Evans, Erica Ficarotta, Ina Higashi-Izumi, Jaime Howe, and Nicole
Lim all don the Fullerton uniform for the first time in 2004 and will
be looked upon to perform right away.
A QUICK LOOK AT CALIFORNIA (Courtesy www.calbears.com) Coming off a bounce-back 2003 campaign, which saw the Bears finish
at 12-5 (their first above .500 record since 1996), 2-4 Pac-10, Cal is
primed to build on Co-Pac-10 Coach of the Year Cari DuBois' first season
at the helm.
In her second year, DuBois returns nine gymnasts and three freshmen to
take on the loaded Pac-10 conference. The expectation level of this team
has risen, as they eye an NCAA Championship berth for the first time since
1992 and second time ever. Last season, the 2003 Bears smashed several
Cal records and now hold the top three all-around scores of all time.
DuBois will look to Cal record-holder My-Lan Dodd to continue what is
becoming one of the best gymnastics careers in Cal history. Dodd is the
only current Bears gymnast to qualify for Nationals (2003) and, unbelievably,
holds the top five all-around scores ever posted, ranging from 39.675-39.425
(all in 2003). Last season, she also recorded the best vault (9.950) and
beam (9.950) scores ever by a female gymnast from Berkeley.
Accompanying Dodd, are savvy seniors Stephanie Kim and Karissa Chock.
Kim owns top five records on beam (9.925) and floor (9.925). Chock posted
career highs last season on beam (9.850) and bars (9.850). Both will be
all-around performers in their final season in Berkeley.
TITANS HIT BY EARLY SEASON INJURIES Forget the flu. It seems shoulder and knee injuries will be the ailment
of choice for the Titans in 2004.
Cal State Fullerton has already lost the services of sophomore Kristen
Weigandt for the season after shoulder surgery and sophomore Jennie Fletcher
continues to be sidelined with a torn ACL.
The Titans' bars lineup will be forced to take the brunt of these injuries
as, aside from Weigandt and Fletcher's injuries, freshman Brittany Evans
(shoulder) and junior Kristy Parker (shoulder) will also be kept off the
apparatus.
“Thank goodness we recruited well on bars and are much deeper on
this apparatus than in past years,” Knight said. “All of our
freshmen will now be an important part of our bar lineup which will be
more consistient rather than spectacular.”
