Toni-Ann Williams

Building off the excitement and emotion of it being the seniors’ last home meet, the Bears dug deep and remembered their training to hit routine after routine on their way to several season-highs and the highest ever total program score.

In addition to the Bears competing in their final meet before moving onto the Pac-12 and then possibly the NCAA championships, they will be recognizing their athletes who will be graduating at the end of this academic year: Sofie Seilnacht, Sylvie Seilnacht, Chelsea Shu and fifth-year captain Toni-Ann Williams.

Though the Bears suffered a significant loss with the injury of fifth-year senior Toni-Ann Williams a few weeks ago, the team has rallied and hit some of its strongest routines as the athletes continue to improve.

On Saturday, the No. 9 Cal women’s gymnastics team edged out No. 14 Auburn, placing second at the NCAA Salt Lake City Regional to advance to the NCAA Championship.

A new program record on beam, however, was not the only milestone met during the weekend, as head coach Justin Howell became the first Cal women’s gymnastics coach to reach 100 wins.

For the first time in Head Coach Justin Howell’s tenure in Berkeley, the No. 20 Cal women’s gymnastics team competed in two meets in the same weekend.

Contrary to last year, in which the Bears finished the season against then-No. 4 UCLA and No. 1 Oklahoma, the last three meets this season all include unranked opponents.

On Friday night, No. 18 Cal defeated Central Michigan as Haas Pavilion bid a bittersweet farewell to seniors Toni-Ann Williams, Alicia Gallarzo, Arianna Robinson, and Yuleen Sternberg on senior night.

Heading into the final three meets of the regular season, a lighter opponent will likely prove to be a huge benefit for the Bears, especially for Williams.

The Bears’ first-ever head-to-head victory over the Utes came with a full team effort but was capped by redshirt senior Toni-Ann Williams’ brilliance.