WEST VALLEY CITY, Utah – Led by four 9.90 performances throughout the first session of the 2022 Pac-12 Championships, No. 27 Stanford finished the league title chase with a score of 196.000 inside Maverik Center in West Valley City, Utah Saturday.
No. 18 UCLA earned the top score of the session with a 196.950, followed by No. 29 Washington (196.400) and No. 32 Arizona (196.350).
Senior Madison Brunette was named the 2022 Pac-12 Scholar-Athlete of the Year.
Super senior Kyla Bryant ended her appearances at the Pac-12 Championships with two of the Cardinal's 9.90 scores, including a session-best total on vault and a team-high performance on floor.
The Cardinal started off strong on bars, as senior Grace Waguespack, super senior Taylor Lawson, and Brunette each scored a 9.80-or-better in the first three spots of the rotation. After a fall from freshman Brenna Neault, Bryant turned the tides for Stanford and tabbed a 9.75 while junior Chloe Widner concluded the rotation with a 9.80 in the anchor spot.
Stanford then went to beam, where two falls to start the rotation plagued the Cardinal to a low event score. The Cardinal did not allow its struggles to start the rotation to continue, however, as the final four routines from Stanford gymnasts included two scores of 9.90 from Neault and Widner alongside a 9.80 performance from super senior Lauren Navarro.
The Cardinal continued its 2022 season's success on floor, earning its highest event total of the day behind six scores of 9.80-or-better. Senior floor specialist Morgan Hoang, Brunette, and Lawson each earned scores of 9.85 and freshmen Anapaula Gutierrez and Neault both scored 9.80. In her final floor routine at the Pac-12 Championship, Bryant anchored the floor rotation with her tenth 9.90-or-better performance of the year.
The day ended with the program's second-best score of the season on vault (49.150), led by Bryant's 9.90 in the final spot of the Cardinal rotation. In the fifth spot, Brunette earned a career-best 9.85 while freshmen Neault and Gutierrez tabbed scores of 9.825 and 9.875, respectively.
The Cardinal now awaits its seeding for the upcoming NCAA Regionals as Stanford was mathematically locked into the event after the final week of regular-season competition. The NCAA Regional Selection Show begins at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, March 22.
