Stanford Finishes Second

DAVIS, Calif. – Eight Stanford gymnasts combined for 13 top-10 finishes Friday night to help the Cardinal finish second at a quad meet at UC Davis.
 
The Cardinal (3-4, 0-1 Pac-12) battled through a couple missed routines and rallied for a second-place result with a 193.800. Boise State took top honors with a 195.300, followed by Stanford, UC Davis (193.275) and Yale (188.900).
 
Freshman Kaylee Cole earned the first individual event victory of her collegiate career with a meet-best 9.875. She has scored 9.875 in both competitions this season.
 
Rachel Daum tied for second on floor (9.800), while Dare Maxwell earned a third-place finish on bars (9.850) and Danielle McNair and Ashley Tai tied for third on beam with scores of 9.825.

"The team handled adversity well and fought hard," said head coach Kristen Smyth. "We're getting a lot of contributions from freshmen and sophomores who have never competed collegiately before. We'll continue to improve and grow and get better."
 
Stanford got off to a tough start on bars when Danielle McNair fell in the leadoff spot. The Cardinal rallied to pick up its teammate, hitting the next four routines to help get the team back on track.
 
Nicolette McNair and Rachel Daum scored 9.800 to tie for sixth overall in the following two spots to get the rally going. Dare Maxwell delivered a team-high 9.850 to place third overall and was followed by Aleeza Yu who produced a 9.825 and tied for fourth.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinal was not quite able to cover the event-opening fall with Kaylee Cole missing her first release in the final position. Stanford finished the event with a 48.150 and was in third place, trailing Boise State by almost half a point.
 
The Cardinal rebounded nicely on beam with a 48.925. Danielle McNair and Ashley Tai led Stanford with scores of 9.825 to tie for third overall, followed by Taryn Fitzgerald and Cole who both tallied 9.800s to tie for sixth. The Cardinal remained in third place but cut the Broncos' lead to 0.275.
 
The Cardinal ran into a bit of trouble on floor with its first gymnast missing the first routine. Tai got Stanford back on track with a 9.600 and was followed by Cole with a 9.700. Daum produced a team-best 9.800 in the fourth position and tied for second overall in the event.
 
Stanford finished well on floor, led by a meet-best 9.875 by Cole to earn the first individual event victory of her collegiate career. She has scored 9.875 on both of her vaults this season. Danielle McNair tied for fourth with a 9.775 and Tai tied for seventh with a 9.750.
 
Stanford will look to continue to build on its team score when it heads to Southern Utah next Friday at 6 p.m. (PT).